How much are the Bengals willing to turn down to keep the No. 1 pick and draft Joe Burrow? According to head coach Zac Taylor, it's quite a lot.
Cincinnati earned the right to claim the Heisman-winner from LSU with an awful 2-14 record last season. But Taylor seems to think Burrow, or whoever else the Bengals may be planning on drafting with the No. 1 overall pick, has the ability to turn the franchise around.
"It doesn't look that way. If there is a guy there that you believe in that can really change the franchise over the next 10-15 years, then that's a hard thing to pass up on," Taylor said Monday on the Dan Patrick Show. "You know, people all the time ask me what would it take to give up that pick and if there's somebody there that people are willing to give up a lot for, that they believe in, then that just really verifies what we think about those players as well."
The general consensus among mock drafts remains that the Bengals will select Burrow, even if Ohio State edge rusher Chase Young does rank as the top talent on most big boards. The team has reportedly used up the maximum allowance of virtual visits with Burrow, which is three one-hour video or telephone conferences per week.
"He's got a great edge to him, I think that's the best way to put it," Taylor said. "You know, you can talk about confidence and all that stuff to quarterbacks, but he's one of those guys that put in the work, so he's got the confidence in his abilities because there's not a lot of unknown out there for him. We've gotten to know him. We've gotten to know a lot of the guys during this conversation over the last couple of weeks. We really maxed out that time talking to him. We feel comfortable with all those guys there at the top."
Still, Taylor wasn't quite ready to make any guarantees on the 2020 NFL Draft — at least not yet.
"I think we're really comfortable with the direction we're headed," Taylor said. "I'm not quite ready to make any major announcements yet, but I think we've done our homework here the last three or four months and kind of vetted all these guys out and feel really comfortable with the direction we're headed."
It's worth mentioning that the Bengals once found themselves in a similar situation during the 1999 NFL Draft when the Saints offered them nine total picks — all six of their picks in the 1999 draft, first-round picks in 2000 and 2001 and a second-rounder in 2002 — for the No. 3 overall pick. The Saints wanted to take Texas running back Ricky Williams, and were able to do so by trading with the Redskins for the No. 5 pick. The Bengals, meanwhile, turned down that king's ransom to draft Oregon quarterback Akili Smith, who started just 17 games in four years in Cincinnati and threw five touchdowns against 13 interceptions.