What former NFL QB Jordan Palmer expects Joe Burrow to accomplish in 2020

Former LSU football quarterback Joe Burrow is going to have high expectations in 2020.

There’s been a lot of talk lately about former LSU football quarterback Joe Burrow already being a great leader for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Burrow has the respect of his new teammates in Cincinnati. And the fan base believes he’s the player who can eventually turn the Bengals’ fortune around.

But what are reasonable expectations for Burrow in 2020? What, exactly, should we anticipate seeing from him in his rookie season?

Former NFL quarterback Jordan Palmer, who spent three seasons on Cincinnati’s roster, laid out this week what he expects to see from Burow in 2020.

What Jordan Palmer expects from Joe Burrow this season

Palmer understands that Burrow, who was the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, is having to deal with an unusual offseason.

Because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Burrow didn’t get to go through the usual mini-camps this summer.

However, Burrow isn’t the first quarterback that’s had to deal with a weird offseason. In fact, the quarterback he’s replacing, Andy Dalton, had to go through a similar offseason in 2011, thanks to the lockout.

Palmer was released by the Bengals just before the start of the 2011 season, so he was around for Dalton’s strange offseason. This means he understands the challenges a rookie quarterback faces when they don’t get to go through a normal offseason program.

That’s why Palmer’s expectations for Burrow are probably where the bar should be set for the rookie signal-caller.

So what are those expectations?

Well, the main thing Palmer is hoping to see from Burrow in 2020 is a high completion percentage.

“My expectations for Burrow is that he has a really high completion percentage,” said Palmer this week on The Herd (via 247Sports).

Palmer added, “I don’t know how many games they’re going to win because I don’t know how good this team is but I see him finding completions, not turning it over a lot and despite no preseason, being as confident as you could imagine a rookie being starting week one.”

This seems reasonable, and attainable, for Burrow this season.

Burrow completed 68.8 percent of his passes during his time at Ohio State and LSU.

As a senior last season, Burrow completed 76.3 percent of his passes. That’s incredible for 15 game season that included 8 regular-season games against SEC competition, an SEC Championship game appearance (against Georgia), and two College Football Playoff games (against Oklahoma and Clemson).

I don’t know if Burrow will have that high of a completion percentage as a rookie in the NFL (he likely won’t), but there’s no doubt he has the talent to complete a high percentage of his passes.

Of course, Burrow isn’t going to be concerned about his completion percentage. He’s only going to be concerned about how many games the Bengals win.

Completing most of his passes, though, is what’s going to help Cincinnati add some W’s to the win column.