ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler on Where Burrow, Herbert & Maye Land on His QB Rankings

Joe Burrow came out of OTAs in June saying this Bengals offense feels the way his last LSU team felt. That LSU team had Ja'Marr Chase on it. It also had Justin Jefferson. Rich wanted to know whether that's a quarterback seeing something real or a quarterback talking himself into something.

ESPN's Jeremy Fowler thinks it's mostly the former, with a little of the latter mixed in.

"He's an honest guy. I think he's really just being honest," Fowler told the show. "He likes the talent."

Fowler's case starts up front. The Cincinnati offensive line isn't star-studded, but it has stabilized, and pairing that with two number one receivers on the outside and tight ends the team likes gives Burrow a huddle he's comfortable in. The run game is the hole. They didn't run it well last year, and that has to change.

The defense is the bigger swing, and Fowler's math there is blunt. Cincinnati was so bad on that side of the ball that merely climbing to average would flip the season. "Even if they're average, middle of the road defensively, they're going to be a playoff team, and then Burrow and the offense can really do the rest in a lot of ways," Fowler said.

So why is Burrow only fourth on the list? Availability. "He would be higher if it wasn't for the injuries," Fowler said. He mentioned doing shows the day before with Tim Hasselbeck, who was adamant Burrow shouldn't even be that high. Fowler's summary of that position is one every quarterback hears eventually: you can't be off the field that much and be taken seriously. Burrow needs a 17-game season, and Fowler thinks he's primed to put one together.

Then Rich handed the floor to Chris, who has a standing grievance about Justin Herbert and did not need to be asked twice.

"I would like to know what he does better than Drake Maye to deserve to be higher," Chris said. "Let's just start at winning a playoff game."

Fowler didn't fight it. "That is fair," he said. Herbert, in his view, is at an inflection point. The goodwill is real, built on those first couple of years when he was on fire, and the skill set is enormous enough that Fowler called it intoxicating. Evaluators keep saying they'd still take him if they were picking a team. One coach took the Chargers job in part because Herbert was the best quarterback attached to any available offensive coordinator opening, and the plan is to hand him layups and easy first downs so he isn't asked to do everything.

The offensive line was bad last year, and Fowler was clear that the collapse isn't all on Herbert, though some of it is. What he won't do is extend the runway forever. "If he doesn't get it done this year or show some sort of progress or maybe win a playoff game, that goodwill will start to fade," Fowler said. It's year seven. He also offered the counterweight: Matthew Stafford didn't win much early in Detroit and is now a Super Bowl winner. Some quarterbacks mature late.

The knock Fowler hears from voters, especially coaches, is football maturity. Six years in, they think Herbert still has ground to cover on mastering the nuances of the position.

As for Maye at number eight, Fowler was surprised, and said he expected more like five to seven. Maye led the league in QBR, yards per attempt and completion percentage. The one bugaboo is the playoffs, where New England won but Maye wasn't great. Two years in, people want to see him do it again.