CANTON − The Cincinnati Bengals head for this week’s NFL draft without a first-round pick.
They steer into the 2026 season with something Luke Kuechly sees as far more valuable, a first-rate quarterback.
During a stop in Canton in advance of entering the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer, Kuechly spoke of his life as a Bengals fan and his love of the way their current quarterback plays.
“Joe Burrow is really, really, really good,” Kuechly told the Canton Repository during an interview in a Hall of Fame lounge. “In my opinion, he is the best true pocket quarterback in the NFL.”
Kuechly won a 2007 OHSAA state championship as a junior at Cincinnati St. Xavier High School, en route to a short but spectacular career as a Carolina Panthers middle linebacker. According to Drew Brees, a Class of 2026 member who also stopped in Canton in advance of the enshrinement, Kuechly was unmatched as a student of defending quarterbacks.
Here’s more of what Kuechly sees in Burrow.
“He’s very confident in his abilities. He’s big. He’s physical. He goes through his progressions. He sees the game.
“He doesn’t throw the ball. He passes it. When you watch him in pregame, the ball is perfect every time.
“I think he’s ultra-competitive. He’s a killer when he needs to be. When he walks into the huddle, there’s one dude that’s in charge, and it’s him.
“You either have that or you don’t. Drew was like that. Peyton (Manning) was like that.”
Kuechly will be the second-youngest player enshrined in Canton, behind Gale Sayers. He was a senior at St. Xavier when Joe Flacco, now Burrow’s backup in Cincinnati, was an NFL rookie with the Ravens.
A gathering at the Hall of Fame sang Happy Birthday to Kuechly, who turned 35 on Monday, April 20. Sayers was 34 when he went into the Hall in 1977. Flacco turned 41 in January.
Burrow has a milestone birthday coming up – he will turn 30 on Dec. 10.
Kuechly was going out when Burrow was coming in. His final game was against Brees and the Saints on Dec. 29, 2019. Burrow joined the Bengals on April 23, 2020 as the first pick of a draft conducted via video conference due to the Covid pandemic.
It was hard to tell where Burrow and the first pick of the 2018 draft, Baker Mayfield, were going on Nov. 7, 2021, when Mayfield led the Browns to a 41-16 rout of Burrow’s Bengals, in Cincinnati. The game left both teams at 5-4.
The ’21 Browns faded. Burrow got hot, throwing for more than 300 yards in four postseason games, including a narrow loss to the Rams in Super Bowl 56.
In 2022, Burrow took Cincinnati to a 12-4 regular season and a close loss to the Chiefs in the AFC title game. He has battled injuries since then, but Kuechly suspects the best could be yet to come.
“The Bengals are an exciting team, in my opinion,” Kuechly said. “The dude Joe throws the ball to (Ja’Marr Chase) is pretty danged good.
“I think they have to stay healthy. That division is tough, but it’s winnable.
“I think if you have a quarterback, you always have a chance. With Joe, you always have an opportunity for success.”
Kuechly grew up in the village of Evendale, about 15 miles north of the Bengals’ stadium. While maintaining a residence in the Cincinnati area, he has remained loyal to the Panthers, with whom he played all eight of his NFL seasons.
The Panthers haven’t had a winning season since 2017, when Kuechly helped them to an 11-5 finish, a stretch in which they reached the playoffs four times in five years and went to a Super Bowl. They are set at quarterback, with 2023 No. 1 overall pick Bryce Young, and have the 19th pick in the first round on Thursday.
The Browns passed on Kuechly in the 2012 draft, when the Panthers picked him at No. 9 overall out of Boston College.
The players chosen before Kuechly, from 1-8, were quarterback Andrew Luck (Colts), quarterback Robert Griffin III (Washington), running back Trent Richardson (Browns), offensive tackle Matt Kalil (Vikings), receiver Justin Blackmon (Jaguars), cornerback Morris Claiborne (Cowboys), safety Mark Barron (Buccaneers) and quarterback Ryan Tannehill (Dolphins).
Kuechly will be back in Canton for the enshrinement on Aug. 8. The Class of 2026 is comprised of him, Brees, Roger Craig, Larry Fitzgerald and Adam Vinatieri.
Reach Steve at steve.doerschuk@cantonrep.com
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Who needs a first-round NFL draft pick when your QB is Joe Burrow?
Reporting by Steve Doerschuk, Canton Repository / The Repository
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
