Dick LeBeau has seen a lot of football—and a lot of the family of Joe Burrow. As the DB coach of the Green Bay Packers, he once helped draft Jimmy Burrow, Joe’s father. Jimmy didn’t last long in the NFL, but LeBeau sees a very different future for his son.
Of course, LeBeau isn’t exactly going out on a limb in praising Joe Burrow, who was in the running for the MVP award this season despite barely posting a winning record for the Bengals in 2024. Statistically, he had a remarkable season, which has been par for the course. And for the former Steelers defensive coordinator, he is about as good as it gets.
LeBeau cited some lofty names from the days of yore in seeking comparisons for Burrow. Norm Van Brocklin, Bart Starr, Johnny Unitas. That’s not bad company to keep, Hall of Famers all of them, of an earlier era. The statistics of that day rarely compare to the modern NFL, but that’s not so much on the quarterbacks.
And Burrow has those qualities that made them great, LeBeau believes. “They just had ball placement, and Joe reminds me of those guys a lot”, he told the Bengals’ website. “He’s a better athlete. Quicker. Can run more”. And, he added, “He might be the most accurate I’ve seen”.
He’s not wrong, of course. Joe Burrow has the highest completion percentage of all time, at 68.6, so Dick LeBeau is on the nose. This past season, he posted a career-high 70.6 completion percentage. He also led the league with 4,918 yards and 43 touchdown passes. And he posted his lowest interception percentage through a full season at 1.4, just nine interceptions on 652 attempts.
While he made the Pro Bowl, Burrow did not make the All-Pro List, despite finishing fourth in the MVP race.
The first-overall pick of the 2020 NFL Draft, Joe Burrow has been a godsend for the team Dick LeBeau once coached. He brought the Bengals to the brink of a Super Bowl, though they couldn’t close the deal. But he figures to have the tools to keep them competitive for another decade or more. But they had better keep him happy.
“Tough. That’s where it comes from”, LeBeau says of Burrow’s success. “Intelligence and knowing the game like he does. That whole family is sharp. Joe Burrow is sharp. Very precise with the ball. Quick with his decisions. He’s got competitive skills. The tighter the situation, the more likely he is to deliver. That’s an unusual combination and that’s why you’ve got a special quarterback there”.
“Very, very much top echelon”, LeBeau added of Burrow, noting, “His dad was a coach”. Jim Burrow, who played five years in the CFL, coached for nearly four decades in the college ranks. One of the driving factors of his retirement in 2018? To attend all of Joe Burrow’s games, starting at LSU.
