A.J. Green plans on working out with Joe Burrow this offseason

One of the most important pairings for the Bengals in 2020 will be how well wide receiver A.J. Green and first overall pick Joe Burrow gel together. The veteran wide receiver should also help Burrow acclimate to the NFL. It appears that Green is wasting no time on that process, according to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com:

“We’ve been talking back and forth. We were talking (texting?) yesterday and I know he wants to get together and throw somewhere,” Green said. “I told him wherever he is, we’ll come to him. I don’t know where, when, how. It’s all who can fly where and when. He’s the quarterback. He makes his location and we have to get there.”

This is a very good sign of a few things. The most obvious is that Green is making sure that his new quarterback and wide receivers will be on the same page whenever the season does start. That would be very important considering the team will likely have limited time to prepare for the season.

This also shows that — despite getting franchise tagged — Green is still very much committed to doing everything possible to make this team a winner. Green himself said that he wouldn’t participate in OTAs under the franchise tag (and possibly training camp), but obviously things are very different now than when he made those comments. The country is in the middle of a pandemic, and it is very much up in the air when offseason practices will actually take place, and exactly how much time teams will have.

With the COVID-19 virus out there and Burrow being a huge supporter of flattening the curve, you have to imagine this meeting may not happen soon. At least we know the quarterback will do everything possible to make sure the gathering is done safely whenever it does happen as well, which is probably the most important thing at this point.

With Andy Dalton now residing in Dallas with the Cowboys, Green has clearly taken on the task of the veteran leader of the offense. He is easily the most talented and longest tenured, and he should have plenty to pass onto Burrow in that regard. Only good can come from Green already taking it upon himself to make sure things run as smoothly as possible going into the 2020 season.

“It’s all about he’s going to be the leader of our team,” Green said. “I just want to put that in him already to where he feels comfortable leading.”