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The Cincinnati Bengals got a positive update on the status of Joe Burrow with the team amid the offseason workouts.

The AFC North appears to be wide open in 2026 for the Cincinnati Bengals. They’ll need to take advantage of that too, because after several disappointing seasons in a row, the whispers are growing louder that quarterback Joe Burrow isn’t entirely happy.

Those rumors recently stirred back up. Burrow was seen at both the Kentucky Derby and the Met Gala. He also went viral in a video working out away from the team.

Then, the Bengals were able to post pictures of Burrow with the team on Thursday. This proved to be a major positive sign, as NFL insider Ian Rapoport would later explain.

“Great sign to have QB1 in the building,” Ian Rapoport said. “Sounds to me like he was also in the building last week, but just to see the photos of him enjoying himself, a lot of positivity toward the Cincinnati Bengals from Joe Burrow. Don’t just take my word for it. He also was quoted recently in Vanity Fair, saying he was excited to see the initiative of the Cincinnati Bengals front office.”

These offseason workouts are pretty limited in their overall scope. It’s just that with the rumors around Burrow, his appearance was a kind of seal of approval.

“Look, it is a big year, huge year, for so many people inside the Cincinnati Bengals building. They really have gone all in… They have spent a lot of money and helped this defense. We spent last year, so much of the offseason talking about Joe Burrow’s weapons and whether they’re gonna get new deals and all of that. This offseason was about the defense, making a complete team. It is very clear QB1 is fully on board with this,” Rapoport said.

There Are Concerns Joe Burrow Isn’t Happy with the Cincinnati Bengals

The concerns about Joe Burrow date back to the regular season. There, Burrow made some comments that sparked concerns he was unhappy with the Cincinnati Bengals.

“If I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing it,” Burrow said. “I’ve been through a lot and if it’s not fun, then what am I doing it for? So that’s the mindset I’m trying to bring to the table.”

Burrow would later try to clarify that his comments weren’t necessarily about the Bengals. However, the damage had been done, and there have been rumors about the two sides all offseason.

This comes amid a notable lack of success on the field. After making the Super Bowl in 2021, the Bengals have only had one other playoff appearance and just had their first losing season since 2020.

Clearly, the roster needed work, and the Bengals front office has done that. As Rapoport noted, it has seemed to make Burrow happy.

“I’m really excited about the moves we made this offseason,” Burrow said to Vanity Fair. “We need to get better, so it was exciting to see the initiative from everybody in the organization to realize that we’re in this exciting stage. We’re in our primes playing great football. Finding guys like Dexter and Bryan Cook … to, you know, really solidify that defense so the young guys can also kind of rise up. We’re really going to try to achieve what we want to achieve.”

Insider on Burrow’s Future with the Bengals

The doubt around Joe Burrow and his future with the Cincinnati Bengals is a little unique. Most obvious franchise quarterbacks are made to be consistently happy at their franchise. So, Sports Illustrated‘s Albert Breer broke down what his future might look like.

“This sort of question would’ve been preposterous 20 years ago,” Breer wrote. “But based on where the NFL is now, and where professional sports are in general, when it comes to player movement, it’s hard to rule out the idea that Joe Burrow could end up elsewhere. If you really want to dig into it, I think the most relevant case study for Burrow’s future is Matthew Stafford. Burrow is now 29, and six seasons into his career, having made the playoffs twice, advancing to the AFC title game on both occasions, and reaching the Super Bowl after his second season as a pro.”

The Matthew Stafford comparison is an interesting one. Stafford left the Detroit Lions and won a Super Bowl quickly with the Los Angeles, beating the Bengals, ironically enough. He went on to add an MVP there in 2025 and is a favorite for the Super Bowl again in 2026. It’s hard not to have an eye on that type of career path.

“Like Burrow, Stafford had some high-end talent around him on offense in Detroit, but played with only two top-10 defenses, and just four that ranked in the top half of the league over his 12 seasons as a Lion. So there are some similarities, including the fact that both quarterbacks genuinely wanted to be agents of change for the teams that drafted them,” Breer wrote.

“All this is to say, I don’t think we’re there yet with Burrow. But like Stafford, he badly wants to win, and he won’t be content with coming up short on Lombardi Trophies forever.”

Obviously, the Bengals would love to have that success with Burrow in Cincinnati. That’s what makes 2026, with a wide-open AFC North and a much-improved defense, so important.