Joe Burrow given slight edge over Justin Herbert in Good Morning Football debate

Good Morning Football is one of the few programs that talks about the Cincinnati Bengals in a positive light.

Kay Adams has already gone on the show and said that she believes that Joe Burrow will be a dark horse MVP candidate in 2021. This time, two of the other analysts spoke highly of Burrow as well.

The crew on GMFB debated who they would rather build a franchise around: Burrow or Justin Herbert. Peter Schrager narrowly chose Herbert, but Nate Burleson and Kyle Brandt went with Burrow.

“This might be the hardest question because I love both of these guys so much, but based on year one I’m gonna go with Justin Herbert,” Schrager said. “Herbert comes in and lights up the league and here’s the deal with him: physically he’s a monster. Mentally he’s a monster...Everything he did last year was perfect.”

Burrow’s injury weighs heavily in Schrager’s mind. While this was a difficult question for him to answer, it would be even more difficult if Burrow never suffered his knee injury.

“You can’t go wrong with Burrow, but if I’m building a team right now I’m taking the guy that didn’t have a season-ending ACL injury last year. I’d like to see where Burrow is health-wise before I’m taking him over Herbert.”

Burleson said he would take Burrow, not just because of his physical talent.

“Injury aside, I like what I saw from Joe Burrow a little bit more,” Burleson said. “I just love Joe Burrow. I love everything about him. Even dating back to his college film and not just his college film, [but] when he’s caught on film. I know I keep talking about some of these intangibles and things that you can’t necessarily quantify, but when you’re sitting back and you got that cigar in your mouth, that just shows me that you got it figured out.”

For Burleson, a lot of what makes Burrow special is his maturity.

“And he’s mature. He’s not a young rookie. He was an older rookie last season so going into his sophomore season, he’s a lot more mature than most quarterbacks that are in his group. So for me I’m going with Joe Burrow, I think he’s going to light it up this year.”

Brandt also picked Burrow, again because of the talent he demonstrates apart from just throwing the ball.

“I’m going with Burrow too and it’s not the practical answer, I get it. Herbert did look good and Burrow did get hurt,” Brandt said. “It’s something intangible about Joe Burrow. I see him and I want to be in the huddle with him. I want to go to battle with him. I think he’s got this it and this moxie that maybe Herbert will develop and continue to cultivate...if I’m going into a dark alley, I just know Joe Burrow’s going to be there for me.”

This truly is a difficult question. Both players had amazing rookie seasons, and Burrow was projected to have similar production until his knee injury knocked him for the rest of the year. So two out of three isn’t too bad.