Cincinnati Bengals Quarterback Joe Burrow Graces Sports Illustrated Cover for September

Come on. We all knew he was cover-boy material.

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback and fashion icon Joe Burrow's star has been rising, and now he's got one more way of proving it. Burrow is featured on the cover of the September issue of Sports Illustrated, which begins hitting newsstands Aug. 17 (it was unavailable at the downtown CVS and Walgreens locations that CityBeat visited).

The issue is dedicated to previewing the 2022-2023 NFL season, and Burrow represents the league's current favorite nice guy who has the turf skills to match his Midwestern charm (See Burrow's full cover at the end of this story). Last season, Burrow played a key role in the Bengals' impressive post-season tear after the team had suffered through years of drought. The Bengals went to Super Bowl LVI in February, falling 20-23 to the Los Angeles Rams in the Bengals' first shot at the Vince Lombardi trophy since 1989. The team earned a 10-7 regular-season record for 2021-2022, won the AFC North, and pulled out magical win after magical win in the post-season — including the AFC Championship.

Burrow is the NFL's reigning Comeback Player of the Year, famously roaring back during the 2021 season after being sidelined in 2020 with a torn ACL. During the regular 2021-2022 season, the quarterback threw 366 passes for 4,611 yards and 34 touchdowns. Burrow set several team records, including the most passing yards in a game, passing yards in a season and passing touchdowns in a season.

Burrow recently underwent an appendectomy, returning to the practice field for the first time on Aug. 14.
Sports Illustrated's feature on Burrow focuses on the quarterback's newfound never-ending spotlight – something that seems to make him slightly uncomfortable but that he takes in stride as part of the game.

"You feel like a zoo animal sometimes when people are just looking at you and taking pictures; it’s all very weird," he tells SI writer Connor Orr.

Orr also reveals that Burrow turns to video games to relieve stress. Orr writes:

Just a few days before Super Bowl LVI, Burrow sent a text to his closest confidantes, confirming their weekly ritual was still on. His firm grasp on sanity amid sudden, uncomfortable fame depends in part on Xbox Live nights. That’s when the boys from Athens High all hop on. These days it’s Star Wars Battlefront II, but last winter it was Grand Theft Auto V’s fist-fight death matches, where they would embody their digital avatars and beat the hell out of one another while trash-talking over their headsets.

"The only time I ever really feel normal is when I’m in there with the guys in the locker room, [or] I’m talking to my friends from high school or my college friends," Burrow tells Orr. "I meet [new] people, and they’re freaking out or something. [But] I’m just me. And everyone I grew up with is super weirded out by it, too."
But the feature isn't just about Burrow's discomfort with fame. He also discusses how finding "little moments" with his teammates contributed to the Bengals' surprising run last season.

"What’s great about our team is you start to have these little moments with everybody," Burrow tells Orr. "It’s not just me and the receivers or the offensive linemen. I think it’s pretty rare and I honestly think that’s why we ended up winning all those games."

Burrow also says that even though the Cincinnati Bengals didn't take home the Lombardi trophy in February, "we still have something to celebrate."
"You just grow and mature and understand that we’re going to lose some games and have some bad days," Burrow tells Orr. "It just so happened that the game was the Super Bowl."

On Aug. 9, the Cincinnati Bengals announced that Paul Brown Stadium now is called Paycor Stadium, named for a human resources software company that's based in Cincinnati. The naming-rights deal reportedly will stand for 16 years.

The Bengals' 2022-2023 regular season kicks off against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 11 at Paycor Stadium and will end on Jan. 7 or 8 in a battle with the Baltimore Ravens in Cincinnati. The team will debut its new white tiger helmet during the Sept. 29 game against the Miami Dolphins.

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