Stephen A. Smith wouldn’t blame Joe Burrow for wanting to leave Cincinnati

The ESPN host senses the QB is fed up with the front office’s incompetence.

After the Cincinnati Bengals agreed to let Trey Hendrickson pursue a trade, NFL pundits are pushing the idea that Joe Burrow will eventually want out.

Yes, the star quarterback is from Athens, Ohio and as tough as they come.

Yes, he’s had a ton of success already in Cincinnati.

But the team has let him down consistently with how it makes decisions about premier players.

For that reason, Stephen A. Smith went on “First Take” today and said that, if Burrow leaves Cincinnati, the only thing that would “raise eyebrows” would be leaving Ja’Marr Chase behind.

“There is nothing else that we would fault him for about wanting to leave Cincinnati,” he said. “Because that organization ain’t nothing to brag home about.”

When it was mentioned that Burrow has loyalty for his home state, Smith said:

“I would agree with you if the problem was the GM or the coach or something like that, because you can just get rid of them. His problem is that he can’t get rid of the owner. That’s a problem. That’s enough to make you want to leave home.”

Of course, there is a bit of history between Smith and the Bengals, as explained in the video below.

Meanwhile, others have already started the trade discussion.

Sure, no one really knows what Burrow is thinking. But it’s still not a good sign that the idea is on people’s minds.

Burrow, of course, had his best statistical season yet. You can watch some of his best plays below:

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