LSU Football: How Myles Brennan’s PFF ranking compares to Joe Burrow’s pre-2019 ranking

LSU football will hand the offense over to quarterback Myles Brennan in 2020.

I’ve said it a ton during this off-season — I don’t envy LSU football‘s Myles Brennan.

That’s because Brennan will take over for Joe Burrow in 2020. And I can’t imagine anyone would be thrilled being the guy who gets to follow one of the greatest performances in college football history.

Burrow’s 2019 season was simply incredible. He tossed for over 5,600 yards. And he threw 60 touchdowns against only six interceptions while leading LSU to a perfect 15-0 season (including convincing wins against Oklahoma and Clemson in the College Football Playoff).

The craziest thing about Burrow’s success in 2019 is that no one saw it coming — at least not at that level.

Which is another reason I don’t envy Brennan in 2020. Sure, most folks understand that LSU’s offense will likely regress in 2020 without Burrow, Justin Jefferson, Cylde Edwards-Helaire, and former passing game coordinator Joe Brady. But I’d be willing to bet that a lot of fans, in the back of their mind, are saying to themselves “hey, maybe Brennan can also have a crazy breakout season that no one sees coming”.

That’s not exactly fair to Brennan, but it’s the reality of the situation.

Myles Brennan’s PFF ranking compared to Joe Burrow’s

This week, Pro Football Focus revealed their rankings for college football starting quarterbacks in 2020.

Brennan came in at No. 42 on the list.

Here’s what they had to say about Brennan:

"Expectations for Brennan need to be tempered. Even with the supporting cast around him, LSU is very likely going to see a huge step back in their next season of play. What Joe Burrow did for the Tigers in 2019 was unlike anything we have ever seen — he generated 2.95 win shares, nearly six-tenths more than any other player in the PFF College era."

When I saw Brennan’s ranking, I immediately wondered where Burrow had been ranked a year ago.

I was surprised to see that Burrow was at No. 17 in PFF’s rankings last August. I expected him to be a bit lower (since there was zero hype nationall for Burrow).

PFF actually had a nice write up about Burrow that alluded to a big season.

"Burrow found himself a home with the Tigers in 2018, leading way to a career-high overall grade and a 78.8 passing grade after two seasons of limited snaps at Ohio State. Burrow averaged 7.7 yards per attempt while dominating when kept clean from pressure. His 90.5 passing grade from a clean pocket is a clear sign of potentially even bigger things to come for he and the LSU offense as he’ll have a slew of talented pass-catchers to get the ball to in 2019."

While PFF saw big things coming for Burrow in 2019, I don’t think the year he had is quite what they were envisioning prior to the season.

I’d say realistic expectations are for Brennan to be one of the better quarterbacks in the SEC in 2020. But I don’t think he’ll come anywhere close to replicating Burrow’s magical 2019 season.