Joe Burrow could take a page out of Tom Brady’s championship playbook, but should he?

What Joe Burrow should do when it comes to signing his next contract

What I think people missed the point about Brady the most was he never pandered to people. The reason it worked for him in New England was that not only was he a team-first guy, but he demanded excellence out of everyone. Get on his level, basically. Everybody had to step up their game because that is what it took to be a part of the multi-tiered dynastic run in New England.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s going to work in Cincinnati. Mike Brown is not Robert Kraft. Katie Blackburn could prove to be better than Jonathan Kraft, but we’re not quite there yet. I think Burrow taking what the market dictates will actually reinforce more good than bad in the Bengals facility. It will necessitate innovation and most importantly, place a big emphasis on drafting well.

Cincinnati has drafted well for the better part of the last half-decade. The Bengals have taken calculated swings in free agency. While they took a gamble on an unproven first-time head coach in Zac Taylor, it has worked out so far because he is a man of great humility who hires great people on his staff and puts his players in positions to succeed. Of course, it starts and ends with Burrow.

Ultimately, Burrow needs to copy what Patrick Mahomes is doing with the Kansas City Chiefs, not emulate what Brady did in Foxborough. That is the new future of building and sustaining a winning franchise with an elite, but expensive quarterback. New England did a lot of things right, but it has done more wrong than right since beating the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl 53 five years ago.

You take a page out of the Mahomes/Chiefs playbook and let the Chargers remain forever frugal.