Joe Burrow sat a few feet away from a Heisman Trophy at Fanatics Fest NYC on Saturday. It wasn’t his. But it got him thinking about his own. And he decided to have some fun with it.
“I have it locked up in a safe place for all you robbers out there who are getting any ideas,” Burrow said, per reporter Arye Pulli.
The joke lands a little different when you remember what happened to Burrow in 2024. His home was burglarized while the Bengals were playing a primetime game in California. The timing wasn’t an accident. Thieves knew he wasn’t home.
The investigation later uncovered what authorities described as a “black market pipeline” of stolen luxury goods running through a pawn shop. Burrow got some stuff back. But the experience stuck with him. At one point he admitted the robbery changed his mind about buying a Batmobile. That’s not a metaphor. He was actually considering it.
Burrow sees 2026 Bengals in his LSU reflection
The Heisman crack wasn’t the only time Burrow brought up his college days this offseason. He also compared the current Bengals roster to his 2019 LSU team that ran through everyone on the way to a national title. Specifically, he said Cincinnati has the same kind of urgency to win a championship.
That comparison carries weight because that LSU team was absurd. Burrow threw 60 touchdowns. They beat Clemson by three touchdowns in the title game. If he’s seeing that kind of energy in Cincinnati, that’s worth paying attention to.
The Bengals front office backed him up too. The biggest move was trading for Dexter Lawrence to anchor the defensive line, which was a mess last season. They also added pieces around Burrow and kept the core together. On paper, this is the most complete roster they’ve had since Burrow took over.
Training camp starts later this month. That’s when we’ll start seeing whether Burrow’s comparison is just optimistic offseason talk or something real. Given what he’s done before, it’s not smart to bet against him.
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