Joe Burrow sits alone at the top of the AFC North quarterback ladder, and through eight weeks there really isn’t much debate.
The Bengals’ star has been operating on another level, and Week 7 only sharpened the gap. Cincinnati rolled into Baltimore and left with a 35-13 win, with Burrow carving up the Ravens in the second half. He finished 16 of 18 for 240-plus yards and four touchdowns after the break, and the Bengals’ offense rattled off five straight touchdown drives against a division rival.
That kind of surge is why Burrow remains in the top three in MVP odds, even if the award conversation matters less than the bigger picture. If Cincinnati keeps winning and the offense keeps humming, the individual hardware will sort itself out.
Burrow’s case is built on more than one hot stretch, though. He led the NFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns in 2024, but the Bengals still missed the playoffs because the defense let him down and Evan McPherson missed some crucial kicks. Now, with a better defense helping create more favorable conditions, a softer schedule and his own growth since his last playoff trip, he looks positioned to hold the AFC North’s QB throne for a while.
Lamar Jackson remains the obvious challenger, but he settles in at No. 2 for now. His contract situation is still unresolved, and the ankle injury hanging over him is the kind of issue that would send a lot of quarterbacks to the sideline. Even so, Jackson is still a dangerous presence and still the player most capable of changing the balance in the division if he gets back and performs.
There’s also the durability discussion, and it’s hard to ignore. Since 2021, Jackson has missed two more games than Burrow, even though the latter is far more often labeled injury-prone.
That inconsistency has added to the strange feel around Jackson’s availability, and his return timeline has become its own story. If he can suit up and outduel Josh Allen in Week 8, he has a clear path to strengthening his claim as the AFC North’s best quarterback.
Aaron Rodgers checks in third, and what he’s doing in Pittsburgh deserves real credit. He’s working without outstanding supporting talent and doing it in what should be his final NFL season.
His 61.6% completion rate is below his usual standard, but that number doesn’t tell the whole story. Some of those incompletions are throwaways, and some come from the constant heat he’s facing.
According to Next Gen Stats, Rodgers is getting the ball out in 2.74 seconds on average, yet he’s already taken 22 sacks, which is second-most in the league. At this point, the Steelers may need to lean into bigger personnel groupings or find better ways to protect him up front, because the 17-game grind - plus any playoff run - is going to be a serious test at his age.
Tyler Huntley lands fourth after stepping in for Baltimore and looking the part early against Cincinnati. He threw for over 200 yards in the first half and, for a while, looked like Lamar Jackson with the way he kept the Ravens moving.
But when the game tightened, Baltimore couldn’t finish enough drives. Some short-yardage issues turned into field goals or stops, and Huntley couldn’t keep pace with Burrow and the Bengals in the second half.
That doesn’t make him a failure; it just puts him in the sturdy backup category rather than true starter territory.
Deshaun Watson rounds out the rankings at No. 5, and even with some slight improvement, the bigger picture hasn’t changed much. He’s still one of the worst starting quarterbacks in football.
Watson is holding the ball too long, taking unnecessary sacks and sitting on a league-high 25 of them. Cleveland has benefitted from a very manageable schedule and a strong defense, but the numbers remain underwhelming.
He ranks 27th in ESPN’s QBR and has a passer rating of 90.6, which is not nearly enough to carry a team when the stakes rise.
In Other News...
Burrow And Bengals Special Teams Just Made Rare Team History
Joe Burrow keeps adding to a Bengals rsum that already looks like one of the most decorated in team history, and his latest weekly honor only reinforces how steady he has been for Cincinnati. After the Week 7 win over Baltimore, Burrow was named AFC Offensive Player of the Week for a performance that included 22 completions on 30 attempts, 292 yards and four touchdowns.
Special teams got its own share of recognition, too, with Ryan Rehkow taking AFC Special Teams Player of the Week after a strong punting day against the Ravens. Rehkow averaged 46 yards on four punts, and every one of them pinned Baltimore inside its 20-yard line, a detail that gives Cincinnati another encouraging sign as the unit continues to show up in big moments. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals May Already Have A Rising CB Problem Fans Didn't Expect
DJ Turner II has quietly become one of the more interesting players on the Bengals roster, even if his profile still hasnt caught up to his play. He was strong enough last season to post a high PFF coverage grade and stack up notable defensive numbers, which only adds to the sense that Cincinnati may already have something more valuable at corner than the broader football conversation realizes.
The tricky part is where Turner sits in his career and in the market around him. Cornerback prices have climbed sharply across the league, and while Turner is still tied to his rookie deal, the gap between production and recognition keeps getting harder to ignore. For the Bengals, that creates a familiar kind of roster tension, one where a young standout can look like a bargain now and a much bigger question later. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Trade Deadline Debate Comes Down To Two Roster Priorities
As the trade deadline nears, the Bengals are being sized up against a familiar front-office question: do they chase help for the backfield or look to strengthen the other spots that have left the roster thin? The idea of adding a running back has the most obvious appeal, and Jonathan Taylor sits near the top of the list of potential fits because he would instantly change the conversation about Cincinnatis ground game.
There are other names in the mix, too, with the evaluation stretching beyond one position and into how much flexibility the Bengals actually have to make a meaningful move. Zach Baun has been mentioned as a value option from Philadelphia, though his contract and cap hit could make any deal trickier than it sounds, and that is part of the broader debate here: the Bengals may know what they need, but the market is not exactly making the choice easy. [Read more 🡒]