LeBron James impressed with Joe Burrow on Thursday Night Football

The Los Angeles Lakers star took notice of how special an NFL quarterback Joe Burrow can become.

When you’re a first-overall pick in any professional sport, all eyes are going to be on you. Perhaps no NFL Draft prospect entered with more hype than Joe Burrow, especially following his historic season as the starting quarterback for the LSU Tigers. Burrow’s NFL debut with the Cincinnati Bengals was hindered by an ill-timed cramp from kicker Randy Bullock. But, Burrow had the chance to open some eyes in primetime on Thursday against the Cleveland Browns. And did he ever.

After throwing his first-career touchdown pass to tight end CJ Uzomah in the second quarter, Burrow received hefty praise from Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, whom said the quarterback has the “it” factor.

LeBron James’ praising Burrow is example of game recognizing game

James happened to be watching this game because he’s a diehard Cleveland Browns fan (and sometimes a Dallas Cowboys fan). Plus, the Lakers aren’t beginning their Western Conference Finals series against the Denver Nuggets until Friday, so James had some time to kick back and enjoy some football in his presidential suite at Walt Disney World.

Like Burrow, James was a first-overall draft pick back in 2003 as a highly-touted high school hoops player. He was a can’t-miss prospect and luckily for him, he got to play for his hometown team in the Cleveland Cavaliers. James proved to be the real deal, as he’s won three NBA Championships and four NBA MVP Awards in 17-seasons. More importantly though, James is showing no signs of slowing down.

Burrow skyrocketed up draft boards this past year after leading LSU to an undefeated record and a CFP National Championship, all while throwing for 5,671 yards and 60 touchdowns on a 76.3 completion percentage. Even before his collegiate season was over, Burrow was dubbed the savior of the Bengals franchise, making his first-overall selection the least shocking news of the 2020 NFL Draft. This summer, the team was so blown away by Burrow’s abilities and leadership in training camp, that he was named a captain…as a rookie. And just two games into the season, Burrow is showing that he has the potential of becoming the next great NFL quarterback.

After this game, you best believe Burrow is going to be stoked once he unlocks his phone and sees the praise from LeBron.