The Cincinnati Bengals have one more game left in this heartbreaking 2025 season following a 37-14 drubbing of the hapless Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. They wrap up the season in Week 18 with a home game against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday, January 4th.
While it would behoove the Bengals to lose the game and finish 6-11 with better draft position, it doesn’t seem like they are content to roll over and quit. On Monday, head coach Zac Taylor said that quarterback Joe Burrow will play, so they are definitely doing their best to come away with a W.
Could this be Burrow’s last game in a Bengals’ uniform? There certainly has been speculation that the team could trade him this offseason after he said a few weeks ago that he wasn’t having fun. No one would really blame him if he was sick of playing for the Brown family in Cincinnati as one can only take so much. Just ask Carson Palmer.
Will other NFL teams make a play for Joe Burrow?
Sources tell Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports that a few teams are expected to make a play for Burrow, and they should. This despite the fact that Burrow has said he doesn’t want out of Cincinnati (burp) and the Bengals haven’t shown a huge interest in moving him.
“There are probably only a handful [of teams] that wouldn’t at least make an attempt,” one NFC front office executive told Jones.
Another source familiar with the Bengals and Burrow says it’s not happening, however.
“They all should,” they said. “But, the Bengals aren’t dealing him, and he doesn’t want to leave.”
The most obvious choice would be the New York Jets. They have their first-round pick this year (a really good one because they are god awful…again), two first round picks that they acquired in the Sauce Gardner trade (2026, 2027) with the Indianapolis Colts, and another first round pick (2027) from the Quinnen Williams trade with the Dallas Cowboys.
They also got a 2026 second rounder in the Williams deal too. In short, the Jets are loaded with picks and I’m not sure if you’ve gotten a whiff of their quarterback play in recent decades.
One NFC exec told Jones of just such a scenario.
“Probably depends on if a team has a young QB or players to offer but imagine they won’t even answer the phone if you don’t have at least two first-round picks plus more,” he said. “Maybe even three if you’re not doing it with any players involved.”
Joe Burrow doesn’t want out of Cincinnati?
ESPN insider Dan Graziano said last week that he doesn’t think Burrow would want to leave town. Maybe he knows that would likely mean he’d be moving on to the Jets? If that’s the case then, yeah, he doesn’t wants to leave the Bengals.
“I think it’s unlikely he wants out,” Graziano reported. “People have been trying to get him out of Cincinnati since before the Bengals even drafted him, and he has never expressed any desire to not be there.
“Theories about what was bothering him at that news conference a couple of weeks ago are wide-ranging, with some believing he was going through something difficult off the field, and others believing he’s sick of the way the Bengals operate. We don’t know for sure, but I don’t get the sense the Bengals are worried he’s going to force his way out.”
So there you have it: Joe Burrow is a Bengal until he’s not.
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