Cincinnati Bengals: On the clock for national championship QB Joe Burrow?

Monday night against Clemson he did pretty much all he could to state his case for being the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft in April.

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Burrow completed 31 of 49 passes for 463 yards as LSU rallied from a 10-point deficit to beat defending national champion Clemson 42-25.

He threw five touchdown passes to finish with an NCAA record 60 on the season and completed 76.3 percent of his passes on the year.

A four-star recruit from The Plains Athens in Southeast Ohio five years ago who began his career at Ohio State before transferring in the summer of 2018, Burrow turned in one of the greatest seasons in college football history while leading LSU to one of the greatest seasons in college football history.

Burrow completed 402 of 527 passes for 5,671 yards with six interceptions. He also ran for 368 yards and five touchdowns.

The 6-foot-4, 216-pounder was everybody’s All-American and brought home the Heisman Trophy as the most outstanding player in college football.

Credit: Jonathan Bachman

Credit: Jonathan Bachman

He entered the title game having already set SEC single-season records for total offense, passing yards, passing TDs and TDs responsible for and narrowly missed breaking Colt McCoy’s NCAA record for completion percentage (76.7) in 2008.

His 2019 numbers were significantly better than 2018 when he completed 219 of 379 passes (57.8 percent) for 2,894 yards with 16 touchdowns and five interceptions.

At Ohio State, Burrow completed 29 of 39 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns in two seasons.

He was in line to be J.T. Barrett’s backup in 2017, but a preseason hand injury opened the door for Dwayne Haskins Jr. to take that job. Haskins made his mark by leading a comeback win at Michigan, and Burrow opted to transfer after he was unable to overtake Haskins during spring practice.

On his way to the top of college football, Burrow was praised not only for his accuracy and decision-making as a passer but toughness as a runner. All of that was on display Monday night at the Superdome.

A two-time captain at LSU, Burrow was also respected as a leader and could be a player second-year coach Zac Taylor tries to rebuild the Bengals around.

The team could also consider Ohio State pass rusher Chase Young or entertain trades for the top pick.