Joe Burrow’s arm looks much stronger

The scouting report on Joe Burrow was basically that he was a complete quarterback in areas like touch, accuracy, and anticipation. He had all the tools to play in the NFL. He just didn’t have a canon for an arm.

Apparently that wasn’t enough. So he traded his slingshot for a cannon.

Recent video has surfaced of Burrow throwing the ball over 60 yards in the area of a water cooler in the back of the endzone with ease.

That only confirmed what Tyler Boyd said about Burrow’s arm being stronger and his passes causes a “stinging” sensation in receivers’ hands.

And Boyd was not the only pass catcher to notice a difference. Tight end C.J. Uzomah felt that Burrow’s passes had more “zip” to them. He asked Burrow’s tight end at LSU (and current Bengal) Thaddeus Moss if he, too, felt that his throws had some extra spice on them. Moss concurred that the quarterback is, indeed, “humming” the ball as well as “ripping” it.

After saying he wanted to improve his velocity this offseason, it appears that the quarterback has done an excellent job of doing so during his injury rehab. He is now relying less upon his upper body to throw and instead generating power through better mechanics.

In the video below, our John Sheeran explains how the young quarterback took the time available during rehab to advance his technique as a thrower.

You can also listen on iTunes or using the player below:

Burrow has learned to rotate his hips and get more balance with his legs. Sheeran notes that this allows him to get the ball out quicker and with more velocity. “It all starts with my hips,” said Burrow. “My hips got a lot stronger just doing the rehab. It’s a lot of glute, hip flexor, hip work to help strengthen the knee and keeping the knee out of compromised positions and that.”

While Burrow said he tweaks his throwing motion and base every offseason, he acknowledged that the injury presented him with a different kind of opportunity: “It was actually kind of beneficial for me, because I really started from the beginning and was able to refine some things that needed refining.”

He also said that he improved his grip when rehab limited his mobility. “My dad was sitting in the living room, catching balls from me while I was sitting on the couch,” Burrow told Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “And I was messing with my grip. There’s always little ways you can get better throwing the football when you can’t really do much.”

And after a season with one glaring weakness - the deep ball - it was clear where he needed to improve.

“We saw last year that some things were just not right,” says Sheeran. “And it had to do with balance and rotation. Both those things were areas upon which Burrow wanted to improve prior to the injury. The injury gave him the opportunity to accelerate that process as he built back strength. He can now make some of the throws he couldn’t make last year.”

With that sort of development, it’s hard to imagine Burrow - who is set to start Week 1 - not taking a leap forward this year.