Joe Burrow Opens Up About Self-Doubt He Had While at Ohio State

The Bengals star discussed a time he pondered a career change during his three years with the Buckeyes.

Joe Burrow’s ascension into the upper echelon of NFL quarterbacks last season felt like somewhat of a foregone conclusion for the 2020 No. 1 overall pick.

The LSU product entered the NFL after stamping his collegiate legacy with a Heisman Trophy followed by a historic win over Clemson in the 2020 national championship game. But, even with all of the success he has seen early in his career, Burrow recently shared in an interview with NBC Sports’ Chris Simms that there was a time when he felt unsure about his playing career during his three seasons as a backup at Ohio State.

“I was putting in the same work that I always put in and wasn’t playing, of course there was self-doubt in that moment,” said Burrow, who started zero of his 10 appearances with the Buckeyes. “I mean, when you don’t [play] for three years, and you’re putting in the work and you feel like you’re practicing really well and you feel like you can go out there and make plays and do what you’ve always done but you’re not getting the opportunity to show what you can do, it’s frustrating.”

After graduating from OSU in 2018, Burrow transferred to LSU where the redshirt junior was immediately eligible to play as a graduate transfer. And while it didn’t take long for him to secure the starting spot, Burrow admitted he pondered making a career change. 

“There were times when I started updating that résumé, thinking about being an investment banker, or something like that,” he told Simms.

Luckily for Burrow and Bengals fans, the Plains, Ohio native stayed on course and found great success in his current line of work.

After leading Cincinnati to its first Super Bowl since 1989, Burrow enters his third season looking to continue an impressive start to his NFL career. The 25-year-old already captivated fans in a memorable way last season with his return from tearing his ACL as a rookie to winning 2021 Comeback Player of the Year honors.