Ryan Clark, Ken Anderson offer high praise of Joe Burrow

The admiration for Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow keeps flowing in. Whether it be national media members to legends finally getting their due, it seems like Cincinnati can rest assured that things are going in the right direction.

It started earlier this week when former Steeler and LSU Tiger safety Ryan Clark went on Good Morning Football to affirm Mike Daniels’ comments about Burrow being compared to Aaron Rodgers.

“We don’t know if Joe Burrow reaches [the Hall of Fame level of Aaron Rodgers], but some of the intangibles, some of the things he has inside, some of the ways he feels about himself and his love for the game is on that Hall of Fame level at a very young age,” Clark said. “This was a dude that was beyond mature when it came to being a quarterback at LSU. A dude that would sit by himself in the cafeteria because he wanted to study. You can’t teach that. You can’t teach that level of want to win. In that sense, Aaron Rodgers may not even be as special as Joe Burrow is when it comes to some of those things.”

Clark’s comments really build the argument that most of what makes Burrow so special are things most fans will never see with their eyes. His dedication to becoming a great NFL quarterback really doesn’t seem like it can be matched. He may never have Rodgers’ rocket arm, but his ability to elevate all of the weapons around him is just something special.

The praise doesn’t stop with Clark, though. One of the inaugural names to the Bengals Ring of Honor, Ken Anderson, recently shared some comments about Cincinnati’s current quarterback.

“The real deal,” Anderson said of Burrow to Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com. “Obviously his physical skills are apparent. I’ve never met him, but I think his demeanor, his leadership, his poise are just outstanding in the way these guys follow him. He’s conscious of the community and he’s conscious of his position. He’s mature beyond his years.

“I just know he’s got what it takes. There’s not much you don’t like about him. From his poise, his accuracy, his arm strength, his delivery, his leadership. I think he’s the whole package.”

Anderson has a good idea what he is talking about. He coached in the NFL on top of playing at a very high level in the league for quite some time. He worked closely with Ben Roethlisberger early in his career, and it is clear he sees everything should go pretty smoothly for Burrow as long as he continues to be surrounded by weapons.

“One common thread with the ‘81 team and the ‘88 team is we had pretty good quarterbacks,” Anderson said. “I look for those times to come back again because we’ve got the real deal at quarterback now in Cincinnati.”

It really never does get old hearing people give glowing reviews of Joe Burrow. For a long time, Bengals fans had to deal with being the butt of every joke and our last quarterback was literally used as the median quarterback of the NFL for a time.

Now we have former players coming to bat for Cincinnati’s newest leader. It really does give you the sense that things are on the way to changing.