Joe Burrow's arm strength hardly a concern for Bengals
It’s hard to find something to complain about when it comes to examining quarterback Joe Burrow’s prolific final year at LSU.
He slipped away from pocket pressure, set passing records and commandeered the Tigers to their first national championship since 2007. All of that culminated with Burrow ascending draft boards, where he is projected to go No. 1 overall to the Cincinnati Bengals.
However, nobody is perfect. And if one question about Burrow has lingered, it’s his arm strength. He didn’t need to throw at last week’s NFL scouting combine in Indianapolis to answer that question to the Bengals’ satisfaction.
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“There’s multiple times where he throws a ball to the field — to the far sideline — where you go, ‘Yeah, that’s more than enough; that’s going to get you everything you need,'” Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan said.
Callahan said he had “no reservations” about Burrow’s arm strength after watching every one of his passes in 2019, when Burrow set the Football Bowl Subdivision record with 60 touchdown passes in a season.
Early in the year, Callahan said Burrow threw a couple of shaky deep balls on which his arm strength was brought into question. But as the season progressed, Burrow put “most of those things to bed” as he excelled during LSU’s title run.
According to research from ESPN Stats & Information, Burrow had more passing yards than any FBS quarterback on attempts of 20 air yards or more. More importantly, he was second in completion percentage on such passes, trailing Minnesota’s Tanner Morgan (minimum of 300 attempts).
“What makes playing quarterback in the NFL so much different is that the anticipation and the accuracy are so much more important over the long haul than just pure strength,” Callahan said.
Recent history shows the Bengals haven’t let a lack of arm strength dissuade them from drafting a quarterback.
Cincinnati moved up in the fourth round to select North Carolina State’s Ryan Finley last year. Veteran starter Andy Dalton has a stronger arm than Finley, but that didn’t deter the Bengals from investing in the rookie. Finley started three games while the Bengals evaluated his long-term outlook, but he struggled, completing just 47.1% of his passes.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor said an NFL team rarely needs its quarterback to sling a 70-yard pass.
“You just want to make sure you can see on tape or in person guys who can make all the throws they are going to need to make,” Taylor said last week at the combine. “A lot of them are intermediate stuff. I feel confident, pretty much every quarterback we have watched in the draft has the necessary arm strength to play in the NFL.”
And this concern about Burrow isn’t new. When he threw at the Elite 11 Regionals in Columbus, Ohio, before his senior year at Athens High, his arm strength was one of the things he wanted to prove.
“A lot of people don’t think I have great arm strength, but I think I showed that pretty well today,” Burrow told reporters in June 2014, shortly after he committed to Ohio State.
Six years later, Burrow talked about the topic with a sense of self-realization. Because he can’t muscle throws into tight windows, Burrow has refined his timing and anticipation, two traits that helped him succeed in 2019 against SEC defenses.
“My physical traits are limited compared to some of the guys here [at the combine], right, and everyone can see it,” Burrow said last week. “So I’ve got to be smarter, I’ve got to prepare better and I’ve got to know what’s happening before it happens so I can play fast.”
More than arm strength, it’s everything Burrow mentioned that Taylor and Callahan are looking for. The totality of Burrow’s skill set could be what the Bengals need to become a relevant franchise again.
