Joe Burrow: To go No. 1 overall is “crazy to me” but “dream come true”

[Who Dey]

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Joe Burrow’s subdued reaction to the call from the Bengals and the announcement by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell belied the fact that he was the No. 1 overall choice.

Of course, Burrow anticipated this for months now.

After Burrow won the Heisman Trophy and LSU went undefeated in winning a national title, it became fairly obvious to everyone, even non-scouts, that Burrow was the choice.

“I knew I was going to have a really good season, because I knew we had really good players coming back,” Burrow said on ESPN after going No. 1. “I had great coaches. I knew we were going to work really, really hard to do it. But to jump up to No. 1 overall is crazy to me, but it’s a dream come true.”

ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper had Burrow projected as a sixth-round choice after 2018. Burrow rose a long way to do everything he’s done since then.

I wasn’t very good my junior year. It’s pretty simple,” said Burrow, who grew up in Ohio. “I worked really hard to get better. All my guys worked really, really hard to get better, and we just jelled as a team this year to do exactly what we did. I just wasn’t as good as I was my senior year, but I worked really, really hard to improve.”