Even though they didn't play this year, the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals were one of the biggest and most fun new rivalries in the NFL. It started when the Bengals beat the Chiefs in the 2021 season and then again in the AFC Championship Game and continued on into the next season when the Bengals beat K.C. again, dared to call Arrowhead "Burrowhead" and then never beat them again.
The Bengals have since missed the playoffs two years in a row while the Chiefs added two Super Bowls to their résumé. The rivalry was a huge one during those 2021 and 2022 seasons and Joe Burrow certainly played a key role there. He wasn't really one of the players in Cincinnati talking trash but Chiefs fans sure weren't a fan of the guy for coming into Arrowhead and beating them when the lights were the brightest.
Burrow's career hasn't gone in the direction Chiefs fans figured it would after those AFC title games, mostly due to injuries. The Bengals quarterback had an eyebrow-raising press conference on Wednesday while discussing the latest serious injury he sustained and how he's still trying to focus on having fun.
"If I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing this. I have been through a lot. If it's not fun, then what am I doing it for? That is the mind set I am trying to bring to the table."
This then prompted a lot of speculation surrounding Burrow's future in Cincinnati. Would the Bengals actually trade their star quarterback? ESPN's Dan Orlovsky seems to think that could be a possibility and listed the Raiders as a possible landing spot for Burrow's services.
"It would shock me if three teams weren't on the phone today after what he said [on Wednesday], figuring out, 'How do we make him part of our football team?’ Now, three months from now, six months from now, a year from now. He obviously is in a bad place with that organization. It's not surprising. But I would be very surprised if he chose not to play football," Orlovsky said. "I have three [teams] in mind. Jets, Raiders, Steelers. Those would be the three that if I were those three organizations, I'm in a brainstorm meeting now. We are figuring out a way to propose a way to get Joe Burrow, and I don't necessarily care what it takes."
Raiders emerging in Joe Burrow chatter is a brutal twist for the Kansas City Chiefs
Yeah, Burrow to the Raiders would be an absolute nightmare scenario for the Chiefs. Not only would they have their franchise quarterback but it'd just so happen to be one that can go toe-to-toe with Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs in the biggest games of the year. Nobody in Kansas City wants to see that trade happen.
At least with Burrow in Cincinnati, there's a chance K.C. doesn't have to face him some years, as was the case this year. If he ended up in Las Vegas, they couldn't avoid him. He'd also have the likes of Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty at his disposal and we know what he can accomplish with talented players surrounding him.
It would take a king's ransom for the Bengals to even consider trading Burrow, at least one would think, but who knows? Perhaps if he continues to become frustrated with the team that drafted him number one overall and forces the issue, he can get his wish like Carson Palmer did back in the day. If Burrow does get his wish to seek a trade, let's hope like heck the Raiders (or Broncos or Chargers for that matter) are not in the running to bring him in.
Better yet - Why not just send him to an NFC team? That feels like the best bet for everyone involved, doesn't it?