Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow opened up about his first NFL paycheck
Joe Burrow enters the 2026 NFL season aiming to achieve a goal that has eluded him for three consecutive years: getting the Cincinnati Bengals back to the playoffs. Expectations have never been higher for Burrow and the Bengals after a busy offseason, and neither has the pressure.
Before Burrow became one of the NFL’s premier quarterbacks, however, he was a transfer quarterback searching for an opportunity.
Burrow enrolled at Ohio State in 2015, redshirted as a freshman, and saw limited action over the next two seasons before losing the Buckeyes’ starting competition. Rather than settle into a backup role, he transferred to LSU ahead of the 2018 season and what followed was one of the most remarkable rises in college football history.
In 2019, Burrow rewrote LSU’s record books, throwing for 5,671 yards and 60 TDs at 76.3%. He led the Tigers to a perfect season and a national championship, won the Heisman Trophy by the largest margin in the award’s history.
The Bengals selected Burrow with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft and he joined Cam Newton as the only players to win the Heisman, capture a national title, and be selected first overall in the NFL Draft in the same year. He signed his rookie contract shortly afterward and has remained in Cincinnati ever since.
While Burrow’s rookie contract feels like a lifetime ago now, he once revealed what receiving his first NFL paycheck felt like.
“My rookie deal was worth about $36 million over four years, with everything guaranteed,” Burrow said. “My signing bonus alone was around $24.6 million. The first thing I did was call my financial advisor and ask, ‘What the hell happened?’ I thought I was getting the full $24 million. Then I realized taxes had already taken a huge chunk of it. You look at the account and think, ‘Wait — where did the other $12 million go?’”
Burrow’s earnings in the NFL have since skyrocketed. Ahead of the 2023 season, Burrow signed a five-year, $275 million extension that briefly made him the highest-paid player in NFL history. On Tuesday, the Bengals restructured his contract, converting a portion of his salary into bonus money and creating roughly $10 million in cap space. The move helped the Bengals manage the financial commitments that came with the Dexter Lawrence trade and one of the most aggressive offseasons in franchise history.
Burrow is now 29 years old and entering his seventh NFL season. Throughout his career, he has led the league in passing yards (2024), earned the highest PFF grade among qualified quarterbacks twice, and guided Cincinnati to a Super Bowl appearance in 2022. Burrow has also battled injuries that have cost him significant time in three of his six professional seasons.
With a rebuilt defense, improved depth throughout the roster, and the full backing of a franchise determined to maximize its championship window, Burrow enters 2026 facing one of the most important seasons of his career.
