The Cincinnati Bengals had another disastrous season in 2025. Cincinnati went 6-11 after Joe Burrow suffered a turf toe injury to put the season on life support in the middle of September. Now the Bengals need to find a new way forward ahead of the 2026 NFL season. One Bengals player declared that one franchise cornerstone is not going anywhere this offseason.

Bengals running back Chase Brown dropped a definitive take about Burrow's future in Cincinnati.

“Joe's not going anywhere,” Brown told Bryan DeArdo of CBS Sports. “I think that was totally blown out of proportion. It was definitely a good talking point for people. … It gave the media a lot to talk about and probably made [Burrow's] Twitter notifications go off, but Joe's not going anywhere.”

The possibility of Burrow leaving the Bengals first surfaced this season after he made some eyebrow-raising comments during a December press conference.

“If I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing it. I have been through a lot. And if it's not fun, then what am I doing it for?” Burrow said, per The 33rd Team’s Ari Meirov.

Those comments, paired with the hopeless feeling surrounding the Bengals in 2025, caused some to worry that Burrow may retire early like former Colts QB Andrew Luck. Or perhaps attempt to force his way out of Cincinnati by demanding a trade.

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Of course, Burrow did no such thing and even finished the regular season for the Bengals.

Apparently the idea of Burrow leaving the Bengals has followed the team into the offseason. It probably didn't help that Burrow made a stern statement after Cincinnati missed the playoffs in 2025.

“We certainly are not where we need or want to be, not where I expect to be,” Burrow said. “We have to figure it out.”

Cincinnati needs to do whatever they can during the offseason to surround Burrow with talented players. Keeping Burrow healthy, and giving him a capable defense, could help the Bengals compete for a playoff berth this fall.

It will be interesting to see how the Bengals approach free agency and the draft this offseason.