Bengals 2024 3rd round pick Jermaine Burton has flashed big time ability throughout the Bengals preseason.  Over the course of the Bengals 3 games, he has shown that his calling card as a deep threat at Alabama will translate, posting an 8/157/2 line while earning his QBs a 158.3 when targeted.  There were red flags that caused him to fall to the 3rd round and those have caused the Bengals to keep him off of the field until his work ethic in practice and meetings provide the coaches with a level of trust in his reliability that seems to be lacking.  It appears likely that the coaching staff will give him the latitude to grow into a higher level of accountability,  but given the emergence of Andrei Iosivas and Charlie Jones, he will likely result in Burton having a “redshirt” year of sorts in 2024.

Burton’s value for 2024 is tied directly to the availability of wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in 2024.  If they are both healthy, he was thought to potentially be fighting for Tyler Boyd’s slot targets, but due to his lack of preparation he will have to display it on the practice field and in the meeting rooms before he is able to earn a role on gameday.  If anything happens to Chase or Higgins, he will become an interesting waiver add in all leagues.