Peyton Manning walked in Joe Burrow’s shoes more than two decades ago.
So Burrow, likely the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, wanted to ask Manning, the No. 1 pick in 1998, for some advice about how to succeed at the next level.
“He called me about some of the things that I tried to do as a rookie that maybe he can apply to his NFL career,” Manning said of Burrow during an appearance on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” on Sunday.
“Looks like it’s going to be for the Cincinnati Bengals. What I told him, ‘Look, Joe, if you’re the first pick in the NFL Draft, you are going to a team that has earned the first pick in the NFL Draft. There are going to be some holes there. There’s a reason the Colts were picking No. 1 that year. There’s a reason the Bengals are picking No. 1 this year.'”
Coming out of the University of Tennessee, Manning led the Indianapolis Colts to a woeful 3-13 record his rookie season.
But during that time, he learned what it took to become an NFL quarterback, and a great one at that. And that’s what Manning tried to explain to the LSU product.
“So that’s what I tried to encourage Joe (Burrow) and all the other rookie quarterbacks, that your rookie year is not going to be the same as your senior year in college,” Manning said. “But if you learn how fast the defensive backs are, how soon you have to get rid of the ball, understand defenses, you can become a better player and really get it going the year or two after that.”
It’s certainly thoughtful, and accurate advice from one of the all-time great signal-callers in NFL history.
