Joe Burrow Is Primed For A Bounceback Fantasy Football Season In 2026
Fantasy

Joe Burrow Is Primed For A Bounceback Fantasy Football Season In 2026

What should we expect from Joe Burrow assuming full health in 2026?

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After passing for nearly 5,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in 2024, we only saw an abbreviated stint from Bengals QB Joe Burrow last season. With a healthy offseason underway, what should we expect in 2026? Ian Hartitz dives in with his 2026 Cincinnati Bengals fantasy football team preview.

CIN_bengals-logo.svgWhat is Joe Burrow's fantasy ceiling with good health?

Joe Burrow has generally been pretty, pretty, pretty great at racking up fantasy points since reuniting with LSU BFF Ja'Marr Chase.

Burrow fantasy points per game:

  • 2021: 19.6 (QB10)
  • 2022: 21.9 (QB4)
  • 2023: 14.7 (QB23)
  • 2024: 21.9 (QB3)
  • 2025: 16.8 (QB15)

Since correlation ALWAYS implies causation, Fantasy Life Projections have Burrow going for 21.9 fantasy points in another even year. Just kidding. 19.2 (QB6) … and he's projected to lead the league in passing touchdowns (33.6).

And why wouldn't he be? Burrow is just one season removed from throwing for an NFL-best 4,918 yards and 43 touchdowns. Of course, the two other recent examples (2023, 2025) of Burrow offering rough QB2 fantasy production were heavily influenced by him playing through/being sidelined from lower-body injuries. 

Here's to hoping the Injury Gods chill out and let this Bengals offense reach the sky-high peaks that are possible when Burrow and his top-two receivers are fully healthy: He's ranked as high as QB3 and as low as QB6 in the Fantasy Life ranks. Note that his current Underdog ADP (QB3, 65.2) is less than seven total picks removed from QB7 Jalen Hurts (QB7, 71.9)—Burrow deserves to be prioritized across this tier when prioritizing stacking or in leagues that reward extra points for passing-specific stats.

Also note: Joe Flacco was responsible for the NFL's highest single-game passing yards total (470!) last season … and the Bengals lost 47-42. It was that sort of season for Flacco (41) and the Bengals, but give the veteran credit for helping the team average 27.2 points per game during his six-start stretch—good for the sixth-highest mark in the league! So yeah, there's QB2 upside here if Burrow is forced to miss time, as well as optimism for continued high-end production from the other involved parties.

Players Mentioned in this Article

  1. Joe Burrow
    JoeBurrow
    QBCINCIN
    PPG
    17.4
    Proj
    308.0

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