Joe Burrow’s tenure with the Cincinnati Bengals has already been a whirlwind. Following an injury that effectively ended his rookie campaign, Burrow then proceeded to lead Cincinnati to a Super Bowl appearance in year two, quickly turning the franchise around in a hurry. After another successful playoff run the next season, injuries and a decline in consistency and missed playoff games have begun to add up. With one of the top signal callers and an array of offensive weapons in the league, it’s difficult to replicate initial success, and Burrow’s claim of more work needing to be done with Cincinnati makes sense.
Joe Burrow: “Something needs to change.”
Towards the end of the 2025 season, Burrow made it clear that something needed to change within the Bengals organization regarding the playoff drought.
“We don’t want to be in the spot we are in now, so something’s got to change,” Burrow said Wednesday. “Whether it’s players we have continuing to improve and get better and play championship-caliber football or bringing in guys that will or whatever it may be. Obviously, something has to [change]. What we’ve been doing hasn’t worked for the last couple of years. We have to think outside the box and get creative about where we go from here.”
Bengals revamp the roster
The Bengals did not sit back and hope things would fix themselves going into this offseason. They went out and addressed it head-on. Bringing in players like Dexter Lawrence, Jonathan Allen, Boye Mafe, and Bryan Cook gives them four new projected starters on the defensive side alone. For a team that has been criticized for dragging its feet in past offseasons, this looks like a front office finally acknowledging the problem and doing something about it. On paper, at least, it is a step in the right direction. Knowing that the defense has been considerably bolstered, Burrow has to be happy knowing that the defense can give his offense a bit more of a breather when needed.
Joe Burrow reacts to Bengals roster moves
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Joe Burrow had the following to say on the Bengals’ recent roster moves.
“I’m really excited about the moves we made this offseason,” Burrow told Vanity Fair this week. “We need to get better, so it was exciting to see the initiative from everybody in the organization to realize that we’re in this exciting stage. We’re in our primes playing great football. Finding guys like Dexter and Bryan Cook … to, you know, really solidify that defense so the young guys can also kind of rise up. We’re really going to try to achieve what we want to achieve.”
Will the Bengals see more production on Sundays?
Joe Burrow said they needed something to change, and the Bengals did a good job of addressing it. This roster is as complete on paper as it has been in several years, specifically on the defensive side of the ball. For years, Cincinnati has been deficient on the defensive front and is now poised to do some damage. That has to take some pressure off of Burrow and the offense, which has carried the team for too long. None of this guarantees anything, though. The bar has been moved again. It’s not about building anymore, it’s about contending. These additions have to perform at the level they are supposed to, or come contract time, Joe Burrow may be looking for a trade.
