Zac Taylor: Joe Burrow has earned the respect of his teammates already

[Who Dey]

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Joe Burrow was handed the starting job the day the Bengals cut veteran Andy Dalton. That came shortly after the Bengals used the No. 1 overall choice on the LSU quarterback.

The job was, is and will be Burrow’s for this season and the foreseeable future.

Bengals coach Zac Taylor, though, said Burrow has earned the job.

“He’s got full grasp of our offense,” Taylor said, via NFL Media. “You want your quarterback to be the hardest worker on the team and an extension of the coaching staff. He fits both those descriptions for us right now. He really breathes life into this offense, into this team. . . . He’s very confident; he’s not arrogant. I think the team believes in this guy right now, but again he’s earned that in the way that he’s gone about his work, the way he operates in the meetings, the way he communicates with his teammates on both sides of the ball. He’s filling into that leadership role as well as any young player can do right now.”

Seven of the past eight quarterbacks selected No. 1 overall started the ensuing season opener, per NFL Media. Baker Mayfield had to wait until an injury to Tyrod Taylor in 2018.

Burrow, though, inherited the job before his first practice.

“We’re not going to beat around the bush. We’re going to give the guy the reps,” Taylor said. “I didn’t want him to be splitting reps with somebody else and not getting all the work in that he needed to get to be the Week One starter. Sometimes you just have to make those decisions and go with it. Again, I haven’t looked back. He’s done an excellent job. He’s been the No. 1 quarterback. We still have work to do these next three weeks, but again we’re not going to look again on that decision. . . . He’s done nothing since he’s been in the building or on the field to make us second guess any of those decisions, in terms of taking him, or making him the starting quarterback from Day One.”