Former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason is drawing parallels between presumptive No. 1 overall pick Joe Burrow and another famous Ohio-based athlete who was drafted by their hometown team.
Esiason compared Burrow's current situation to that of LeBron James when he was drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2003 NBA Draft (via Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com):
“I equate him to when LeBron James came out of high school his senior year and the Cavaliers had the top pick,” Esiason says. “They had some good years under Larry Nance, but they were never thought of as the Bulls or the Lakers or Celtics. They were the Cleveland Cavaliers for God's sake. He grew up in the shadow of Cleveland and brought them the championship. Now it's Joe Burrow's time. This is his time. He's got to go home and get it straight and he's the reason they get it straight. That's the way it should be written and that's the way he should be looking at it.”
Of course, James (an Akron native) was hailed as the “Chosen One” early in his prep career. Burrow's route to superstardom took a very different path.
The Athens native started his collegiate career with the Ohio State Buckeyes, but he failed to see much of the field before transferring to LSU. The rest, as they say, was history.
Burrow had a decent debut season for the Tigers before his historic 2019 campaign in which he won the Heisman Trophy and led LSU to the national title.
The Bengals have every intention of taking Burrow, and they will hope –like LeBron in Cleveland–he is the missing ingredient. Burrow will actually come into a fairly decent situation, as the Bengals have strong players at the skill positions and spent this offseason focused on improving the defensive unit.
Still, living up to James as a “hometown hero” seems like an impossible task. Nevertheless, that is how Esiason sees things for Burrow in Cincy.
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