The good people at Pro Football Focus Fantasy Football put together their quarterback predictions for the 2020 season and I think you will like what they had to say. Our savior will be turning in 3,734 passing yards, 23 passing touchdowns and 303 rushing yards. This ranks 10th among all of their rankings for QBs. 10th! If you told me we drafted a top 10 quarterback in their rookie season I would say start etching his name in Canton now.
Like all predictions, even the deep analytics-based ones, these are still guesses. I wanted to compare these numbers to 2019 QB numbers though and see where Burrow would have landed. Here is what I found:
Passing yards
The predicted passing yards would put Burrow 15th in the league right behind Faker Mayfield. Remember Jameis Winston passed for the most yards though and where is he this season (riding pine in New Orleans)? Lamar Jackson who won the MVP passed for 3,127 yards and he was 4th last among all of the starters. Don’t put a ton of stock in this number since Burrow can be a dual-threat QB.
Passing touchdowns
Burrow would be tied for 15th in the league with 23 touchdowns. Kyler Murray was the offensive rookie of the year and he only threw 20 touchdowns. Only Ryan Tannehill threw for less touchdowns and made the playoffs last season, but remember how incredible their running game was. I would like to see higher numbers out of Burrow in this category but knowing how many interceptions he throws is just as important. If he goes 23 TDs and 10 INTs that makes us all really happy.
Rushing yards
At first glance I thought that 303 yards was a little high but that was foolish of me. Gardner Minshew (344) and Daniel Jones (274) would be Burrow’s bookends on this statistic. I think Burrow is more mobile than both so I look up the list and run into Deshaun Watson (413). I think a fairer rushing number would be 375 yards.
Let’s hope because all of this sounds really good to me!