Ken Anderson believes Joe Burrow and the Bengals are a 'perfect match'

Bengals legend Ken Anderson believes Joe Burrow and the Bengals are the perfect match

Joe Burrow had one of the best seasons in college football history in 2019. He led LSU to a 15-0 record, a national championship and capped it off by winning the Heisman Trophy. 

His stellar play impressed Bengals legend Ken Anderson, who spent 16 seasons in Cincinnati. 

"He never had a bad game," Anderson said on the Locked on Bengals podcast. "He was playing arguably the toughest schedule in college football last year and never had a bad game. I like that consistency part of it. I think the other thing is sometimes it's hard to evaluate quarterbacks because in the college game, things seem so wide open all the time.

"You could see him making NFL throws where he's on the move and there's tight coverage and he throws a high back shoulder throw or he'll throw a low inside throw. I really like the accuracy that he showed."

Burrow led the country in multiple passing statistics, including yards (5,671), touchdowns (60) and completion percentage (76.3). 

Bengals offensive coordinator Brian Callahan believes Burrow is the "most accurate" quarterback prospect he's ever evaluated. The 23-year-old's on-field performance was impressive, but his maturity is another reason why he was the top prospect on the Bengals' draft board. 

"He seems like he's really a grounded person," Anderson said. "When you watch his Heisman Trophy induction speech and he brings up the City of Athens, Athens County and those that are going hungry, I think he realized he has a platform to make a difference."

Burrow helped raise over $500,000 for the Athens County food pantry by talking about the issues that so many people deal with in the area during his Heisman Trophy acceptance speech.

“Coming from southeast Ohio it’s a very impoverished area and the poverty rate is almost two times the national average," Burrow said during his speech in December. "There’s so many people there that don’t have a lot and I’m up here for all those kids in Athens and Athens County that go home to not a lot of food on the table, hungry after school. You guys can be up here, too.”

The belief in Burrow continues to grow. The Bengals fell in love with him during the pre-draft process. Anderson thinks he's exactly what Cincinnati needs to get back to their winning ways. 

"Here's an Ohio kid coming to the Bengals. I think it's a perfect match."