The Cincinnati Bengals are one of the most intriguing teams in the entire NFL.
Maybe the most intriguing.
After Joe Burrow had his season cut short due to a wrist injury in 2023, he appears to be fully healthy and ready to go.
However, the franchise still has some contracts to work out if they want to keep the likes of Pro Bowl edge-rusher Trey Hendrickson and 1,000-yard receiver Tee Higgins.
Regardless, Fox Sports’s Craig Carton believes that you can’t ever count out Cincinnati in the AFC.
“If Joe Burrow is healthy, I would never count the Cincinnati Bengals out,” Carton said Tuesday on The Carton Show.
“If Joe Burrow is healthy, I would never count the Cincinnati Bengals out.”
— @craigcartonlive pic.twitter.com/F0atZa5BV0
— The Carton Show (@TheCartonShow) May 7, 2024
When healthy, Burrow is one of the elite quarterbacks in football.
Back in 2021, he took Cincinnati to the Super Bowl for the first time in over three decades.
Across 2021 and 2022, he combined for over 75 total touchdowns and helped the Bengals win a total of 27 games, including playoffs.
He has one of the best receivers in the league in his old LSU teammate Ja’Marr Chase, who has made three consecutive Pro Bowl squads.
But again, for the Bengals to become the team that made back-to-back AFC Championship Games in 2021 and 2022, Burrow, who has never played a full season, needs to stay healthy.
Also, they need to deal with the contracts of Trey Hendrickson and Tee Higgins.
Both have requested trades this offseason.
Hendrickson has recorded nearly 40 sacks in three years, and Higgins is one of the best No. 2 receivers in the NFL.
They need to lock both of those guys up if they want to win a Super Bowl.
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