Bengals QB Joe Burrow traces family football tree to his NFL dad

Billy Heyen

Bengals QB Joe Burrow traces family football tree to his NFL dad image

Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Some NFL players are well known for their football-playing father.

That's not quite as true with Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow, but there are some great football family tree roots there.

Joe's father, Jim, was an eighth-round pick by the Green Bay Packers in 1976.

Jim ended up playing in three NFL games. He then went to Canada to conclude his football career in the CFL.

Thanks to those roots, The Athletic recognized Burrow as its "starter" on its All-Second Generation Team entering the 2025 NFL season.

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Burrow held off Shedeur Sanders, who is his QB backup on this fictional team. Sanders' father is more famous, the Hall of Famer from the Cowboys, Deion.

But it appears The Athletic bestowed starting honors based on current football ability for someone with an NFL father, a rank which Burrow obviously holds over Shedeur.

Burrow has had quite the football upbringing. He starred in Ohio at Athens High School.

From there, he went to Ohio State, but he didn't stick in Columbus and ended up at LSU.

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The Tigers put together maybe the greatest college football team ever assembled as Burrow helmed a national title squad.

He went No. 1 overall to Cincy, and when he's been healthy, Burrow has been one of the best quarterbacks on the planet.

It never hurts to have a dad who has been there and done that. It certainly didn't hurt Burrow.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle