Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is poised to become the NFL’s all-time leader in completion percentage, provided he makes at least 12 pass attempts on Monday against the New York Bills. Buffalo.
With those 12 pass attempts, complete or not, Burrow will overtake childhood idol Drew Brees for the record and secure his own spot in the NFL Record & Fact Book.
Only three years into his career, Burrow is racking up accolades. He completed 69% of his passes before Monday and already has the highest completion percentage in NFL history for any player after his first two seasons.
Although he threw enough passes to win the AFC championship last year, it took him at least 1,500 attempts to officially qualify for the NFL’s all-time completion percentage list. .
Brees’ career mark of 67.7% was briefly dethroned by Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson. After returning from a league-imposed suspension for alleged sexual misconduct, Watson completed 57.7% of his passes in four games. These projections caused Watson’s career count to drop from 67.8% to 67.2%.
Now, Jimmy Garrapolo is in second place behind Brees with 67.6%. The other leaders in completion percentage are also active quarterbacks – Dak Prescott, Justin Herbert, Kyler Murray, Kirk Cousins, Teddy Bridgewater and Patrick Mahomes, respectively.
On Monday night, 12 incomplete passes from Burrow would bring him back to 67.9%, still enough to pass Brees.
What Brees and Burrow have in common
Brees and Burrow have connected on more than outstanding completion percentages over the years.
Their commonalities took center stage in the days leading up to Heisman’s victory over Burrow in December 2019, when he told the media that he grew up idolizing Brees and supporting the Saints despite growing up in Ohio.
“You want to encourage guys like that, who have to walk that tough road, face adversity and overcome it, and come out better on the other side. He was fun to watch,” Brees said from the Saints locker room.
The two met a month later and posed for a photo as they traded number 9s. Burrow went on and led LSU to the national title.
After retiring, Brees joined NBC Sports as a football analyst and the duo reunited before Super Bowl LVI. They met for an interview about how Burrow led the Bengals there in just his second year in the NFL.
“Have you always had this self-confidence? Brees asked.
“Yeah, I would say so,” Burrow said.
