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Joe Burrow is set to sign a contract extension with the Cincinnati Bengals before the start of the 2023 season, making him one of the highest-paid NFL quarterbacks in history. He has massively improved the Bengals team and they're now one of the best in the league.
Looking back, it's weird to think that less than three years ago Burrow had said he was still living in his parents' basement. That happened right during the 2020 NFL Draft, where he was the first overall pick by Cincinnati.
Fresh off leading the LSU Tigers to a national championship with one of the greatest offenses in the history of college football, Burrow was still a kid when the Bengals tied their future to him.
First overall pick Joe Burrow still lived with his parents
Now, it's impossible to ignore the world's context.
The draft's first night happened on April 23, 2020. You might remember that, three years ago, the world was in a frenzy due to the recently-started COVID-19 pandemic.
So the entire draft had to be changed, from the event per se to the whole draft process that happened before. The quarterback had nothing else to do besides stay at home, and he still didn't have any money to live on his own before signing his first contract... so he just returned to his parents' house following the 2019 college football season.
A $36 million contract coming your way after being the first overall pick in the NFL draft? That's good - but he still slept with Star Wars-themed stuff in his bedroom in 2020.
“My dad likes to make the joke that I’m a 23-year-old millionaire living in my parents’ basement,” Burrow said on Pardon My Take. “The room is Star Wars-themed … The comforter was Star Wars. I think the curtains are still Star Wars, but the comforter is no longer Star Wars.”
Three years later and set to earn a contract extension worth more than $45 million a year, he's now a young quarterback who seems destined to take the Cincinnati Bengals to the promised land. Star Wars-themed bedroom or not, he's a great leader and a fantastic player.
