Cincy Jungle on Joe Burrow
From the article
The Cincinnati Bengals had a real problem with both the pass rush and protecting Joe Burrow. Then they added Amarius Mims, Dylan Fairchild, and Dalton Risner to the line in 2024 and 2025. And then this past offseason, they went out and got Dexter Lawrence, Jonathan Allen, Boye Mafe, and Cashius Howell. Currently, the Bengals have a +11 differential (Burrow has been sacked 10 times, while the defense has made 21 sacks), which puts them on pace to be +31 by season's end.
STACKED’s take
Burrow's sack protection has improved from -31 differential in 2020 to +31 pace in 2026.
Burrow's protection situation has undergone a historic turnaround. The Bengals added Amarius Mims, Dylan Fairchild, and Dalton Risner to the offensive line in 2024–2025, then added Dexter Lawrence, Jonathan Allen, Boye Mafe, and Cashius Howell to the defense in the most recent offseason. The result: Burrow has been sacked only 10 times through the current season, putting the Bengals on pace for a +31 sack differential by season's end—the greatest in franchise history since sacks were first tracked in 1982. This represents a dramatic reversal from 2020 (his draft year), when the Bengals were -31 in sack differential, the second-worst on record. The team has improved every year of the Burrow era, progressing from -31 (2020) to -1 (2025) to +11 (2026 current pace), with Burrow's sack rate dropping from 32nd in pass protection (2020) to 5th (2026).
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