Bengals QB Joe Burrow said he's working on his accuracy on deep throws this offseason.
In an interview with Sports Illustrated about his long recovery from last year's season-ending knee injury, Burrow -- who participated in OTAs last week -- said he was frustrated by his misfires down the field in 2020. “I just wasn’t accurate as I was the year before [at LSU] down the field. And that was frustrating to me, because I’ve always been a good down-the-field thrower," he said. "Just getting back to the basics of that, really focusing on my fundamentals. I just started running and throwing a few weeks ago, so standing and throwing, and focusing on the fundamentals helped.” Burrow was indeed poor on throws of more than 20 yards downfield; he completed an atrocious nine of his 48 downfield attempts as a rookie. Only Dwayne Haskins and Mitchell Trubisky were worse on deep throws. A better deep-throwing Burrow in 2021 would be a fantasy boon for Tee Higgins, who led the Bengals with 28 downfield targets last season. Higgins caught nine of those passes at 32.3 yards per reception. In the same interview, Burrow admitted it's "hard to say how explosive I’m going to be in the run game as of right now.” A lack of rushing production could lower Burrow's weekly floor a year after he rushed 37 times for 143 yards and three touchdowns in nine full games.
SOURCE: SI.com
May 31, 2021, 8:57 AM ET