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Sports Illustrated
Thu, July 16, 2026 at 2:37 AM UTC
Senior NFL reporter Albert Breer answers mailbag questions on the latest NFL topics in the news
Video Transcript
All right
Welcome in
I’m back from vacation
It is Thursday, July 16th, and because I’ve been away for a little while, you guys have plenty of questions, which we are going to get to here in the video mailbag
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We don’t have a print edition of the mailbag this week
We’ll have one coming for you next week
But we are gonna answer three of your questions right here, right now
The first of those questions comes from Ryan, that’s at Ryan X2Q
On Twitter, Ryan asks, why is Joe Burrow put in some high tier of quarterbacks when he can’t stay healthy, and when he is on the field, he can’t make the playoffs
3 years of nothing should have DQ’ed him from top 10 quarterback ratings
I vehemently disagree with you, Ryan
I, I think Joe Burrow is still one of the best quarterbacks in football
I think it’s hard to fault him
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For the injuries, um, and, and I think it is a factor in the way that you rank him, but when you look at the guy’s ability and what he’s been able to do for his team
I think there are very few quarterbacks in the league that do more for their teams than Joe Burrow does for the Bengals when he’s on the field
And I think if you look at the totality of his career, you see that
And if you add context to everything that’s happened over the last three years, it only adds to that
So , in 2020, of course, he’s a rookie, tears his ACL that year, comes back the next year, 2021
And goes to the Super Bowl in his first full year as an NFL starting quarterback
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The next year, he goes into Arrowhead to play in the AFC championship game
He won an Arrowhead, beat Patrick Mahomes in Arrowhead
In his 2nd year
In his 3rd year, he plays well enough to beat them
So the Bengals are now for the 1st time in their history in the AFC title game, 2 years in a row
And so now it looks like Cincinnati is gonna be one of the sustained powers in the AFC going forward
The last 3 years haven’t worked out that way
He missed 7 games in 2023
He missed 9 games last year, um, and then the year in between
He had an MVP level season and the Bengals were historically bad on defense, which wound up screwing up, which was what was an incredible finish to that year
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So, I, I still think what we see from Joe Burrow again over the last three years with a defense that I, for the most part has been really, really bad
He’s gone 19 and 16, he’s carried that team
Um, yes, there’s the time missed because of the injuries, but I still think this is one of the best quarterbacks in football
He plays a game that I think is gonna be sustainable over time, that’s not overly reliant on his physical ability, but he’s got plenty of physical ability as well
I, I, I look at Joe Burrow as one of the 4 best quarterbacks, 4 or 5 best quarterbacks in football, however you want to stack them
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I think as far as the young guys go, he’s in that category with Josh Allen , with Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson
Matthew Stafford, of course, would be the other quarterback, I think in that top 5
I think those are the guys that you’re looking at as the 5 best quarterbacks in football, and I think Burrow is very much on that list, and, you know, I, I, I, you have some of the similar issues with Lamar Jackson with injuries, um, and, you know, I do think
That some people have started to dock Lamar a little bit for that
You can dock Joe Burrow a little bit for his injuries, but I don’t think it tears down what he is as a player, and he has actually had some more playoff success than Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson have had
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Obviously, not as much as Patrick Mahomes
Um, so again, like if I’m starting a team, there are very few quarterbacks that I’m taking before I would take Joe Burrow
Question number 2, this is from Kevin Ray 247, that’s at Kevin Ray 24/7
Do you feel the somewhat negative, do you, do you feel a somewhat negative opinion towards B Nix is fair?
Kevin, I think what you’re getting at is how a lot of these top 10 lists, Jeremy Fowler did a great one that came out this week
He does a great job with this stuff
Um, that one’s obviously gotten a lot of attention, right place, so he has executives and coaches vote on those
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Uh, but Bo Nix has been left off a lot of these lists, and I know it’s something that gets the people in Denver and I can understand that
I think there are a couple of different pieces to it
I think number one, some people dock him for having Sean Payton as his coach and see him as sort of a system quarterback
I don’t think that’s very fair, but I think that’s the way some people look at it
Number 2, I think we’ve gotten used to now seeing these guys who do physically freakish things, right?
So Patrick Mahomes with his arm angles, with his off-script stuff, Josh Allen, who looks like Superman out there at times, Lamar Jackson, who’s maybe the best runner we’ve ever seen at the position
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Um, those guys are freak athletes in their own way
Those guys do things that we have never seen done
Um, at the NFL level before, uh, doesn’t mean they’re better than everybody that’s come before them, but they do some things that are just unique to who they are
And Bo Nix is a little bit more of a conventional quarterback
So I think, you know, that’s something else people dock him for
That said, he came in to a team that hadn’t been in the playoffs in years, made the playoffs as a rookie
And then last year, he led the Broncos to 2 playoff wins, got to the AFC championship game
Obviously, he gets hurt at the end of the divisional playoff game, so he can’t play in the AFC title game
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So, you know, I, I think Bo Nix is a little unfairly docked for those two things, for Peyton and for his lack of freakish physical ability
But I think what you have is a guy who’s a really good fit there in Denver, who, you know, I think plays a smart game
Is instinctive is
Very accurate, is able to put the ball where, where he needs to put it again, does that mean that the freakish arm talent of a Josh Allen or a Patrick Mahomes?
No.
But he can make every throw he needs to make
He makes some really high leverage throws and some high-level throws
Um, and so I think, you know, Bo Nix is probably somewhere in the top 10
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Um, of the quarterbacks in the NFL, and I, again, like he doesn’t have the freakish ability and maybe the ceiling isn’t what it is with his draft classmates Drake May and Caleb Williams and Jaden Daniels, but he’s still a really, really good player and a great fit for Sean Payton, and a guy who I think gives them a chance to get to a Super Bowl this year, the same way he gave them a chance to get to a Super Bowl last year, and if he hadn’t gotten hurt
At the end of that divisional playoff game against the Buffalo Bills
Maybe we are talking about the Broncos coming off of a Super Bowl
Finally, question number 3 is from Kevin
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It’s at Shorty West 87
Kevin asks, will the league ever consider a system to factor in state’s income tax to the salary cap ?
Seems like a competitive disadvantage with how much I hear players mention it
Kevin, I don’t think so
Um, this exists in every sport
I mean, we know what it is
The state income tax in New Jersey, in California is much different than it is, of course, in Texas or Tennessee or Florida
At the end of the day, I don’t think that that’s affecting players’ decision-making
The money is so big now, and there’s enough pressure on these guys to take the biggest money deal regardless of those outside factors
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I, I think you’re looking at it and saying, Yeah, it does give you a little bit of a competitive advantage and maybe it can be a tiebreaker in certain situations, but so much in the sport is based on your ability to draft and develop and pay your own guys, and the free agent market has constraints on it in different ways
I just, I, I, I don’t think it’s a determining factor in whether a team is able to win a Super Bowl
So, it’s it a little unfair for the Giants and the Jets when they’re competing against the Cowboys or the Titans or the Dolphins or the Texans or the Jaguars, the Bucks, sure, maybe a little bit on the free agent market, but I, I just don’t think it’s a real difference-maker in whether you’re winning or losing NFL games
And so, I, I think you get, you could tie yourself in a knot, getting all tangled up in different ways to solve that
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I, I think it’s just fine the way it is
Appreciate you guys coming out
As always, you can leave your comments and questions down below here on the YouTube page
You can always, also, as always, uh, get to me on my social media at Albert Breer on Twitter, at Albert Abreer on Facebook, at Albert_Brewer on Instagram
Appreciate you guys coming out
We’ll have one more Brewer report coming for you
That’ll be Friday morning
We’ll see you guys then
- Albert Breer on if Joe Burrow is a Tier 1 QB, Bo Nix Criticism, Salary CapSenior NFL reporter Albert Breer answers mailbag questions on the latest NFL topics in the news.
8:43
Now PlayingPausedAd Playing - Can Broncos pick up where they left off with healthy Bo Nix in 2026? ‘GMFB’
6:33
Now PlayingPausedAd Playing - The Cincinnati Bengals and Playoff Joe Burrow are something to be feared
1:10
Now PlayingPausedAd Playing - The Cincinnati Bengals and Playoff Joe Burrow are something to be feared
1:11
Now PlayingPausedAd Playing - Simms’ 2026 QB Countdown: Joe Burrow
4:36
Now PlayingPausedAd Playing - Can Bo Nix lead the Denver Broncos to a Super Bowl title?
1:31
Now PlayingPausedAd Playing - Are the Broncos the Chiefs’ Biggest Threat? | AFC West Deep Dive with Taylor “Chaw” Czajkowski
21:50
Now PlayingPausedAd Playing - This Cincinnati Bengals team reminds Joe Burrow of 2019 LSU
1:17
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1:17
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8:19
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1:24
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