Undeniable strength of Bengals' roster is served blatant disrespect and the math just doesn't add up

The Cincinnati Bengals have the best quarterback situation in football with an elite starting quarterback in Joe Burrow, and one of the best backups in Joe Flacco. A recent ranking from CBS Sports offered a counterargument.

The Cincinnati Bengals have an elite starting quarterback in Joe Burrow. Right behind him is one of the best backup QBs in Joe Flacco. That combination gives them a 1-2 QB depth chart no other team in the NFL can rival.

CBS Sports’ Jordan Dajani disagrees, ranking the Bengals' QB situation second behind the San Francisco 49ers in his top-five.

The 49ers boast Brock Purdy, Mac Jones, Adrian Martinez, and Curtis Rourke. Cincinnati has Josh Johson and Sean Clifford to round out its group.

The closer you get to the top of the depth chart, the more this ranking doesn’t add up.

Burrow over Purdy shouldn’t require a debate

The starter should carry the most weight in any quarterback situation ranking. Plain and simple.

Burrow is a consensus top-five quarterback in the NFL. He’s better than Purdy. That alone should settle the argument before you even get to the backup conversation. The Bengals have an elite signal-caller leading their offense, and the gap between Burrow and Purdy is wider than the gap between any two backups on either roster.

The only way to justify placing San Francisco ahead of Cincinnati is by heavily weighting the backup position and preferring the 27-year-old Jones to the 41-year-old Flacco. Even then, the math doesn’t work.

Jones had a nice stretch, but Flacco was just as productive

Jones deserves credit for what he did in San Francisco last season. He stepped in admirably for Purdy during his first year with the 49ers, and coach Kyle Shanahan has proven time and again that he can squeeze quality production out of whoever lines up under center.

Jones threw for 2,151 yards, 13 touchdown passes, and six interceptions in eight starts, winning five of those games. It was a legitimate reputation boost for a quarterback who carried the “bust” label after flaming out with the New England Patriots and posting an underwhelming stint as Trevor Lawrence’s backup in Jacksonville in 2024.

Flacco’s numbers in his six starts tell a comparable story. He threw for 1,636 yards, 13 touchdown passes, and four interceptions in six starts. He only won one of those six games, but he was playing with a historically bad defense. Flacco's reflects Cincinnati’s roster shortcomings far more than any gap in his play.

Whatever benefit Flacco received throwing passes to Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, you could give the same to Jones for operating within Shanahan’s system. The supporting-cast advantages roughly cancel out.

The Bengals have the best combination in football

Very few teams in the NFL can claim they have a top-tier starter paired with a highly capable backup. The Los Angeles Rams hope they have that with Ty Simpson backing up Matthew Stafford. Kansas City hopes the same with Justin Fields now behind Patrick Mahomes. Both of those teams made Dajani’s top five, and rightfully so.

But the Bengals have the best version of that combination. Burrow is the superior starter in this comparison, and Flacco remains one of the league’s better insurance policies. Cincinnati retained Flacco this offseason specifically to maintain that depth.

There’s no reason the 49ers should rank ahead of Cincinnati here. The Bengals roster the stronger starter and a backup who produced at a similar level to San Francisco’s No. 2. It's the best QB situation in football.

This article was originally published on A to Z Sports. Read the full story here: Undeniable strength of Bengals' roster is served blatant disrespect and the math just doesn't add up

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