Joe Burrow

Joe Burrow finished the 2025 fantasy season as the number 29 quarterback in total PPR scoring and the number 15 quarterback in PPR per game — and the gap between those numbers IS the story. Burrow played eight games. That's it. A September turf toe injury turned what should've been a top-five fantasy quarterback season into a half-season cameo, and Cincinnati cratered to six and eleven without him, Joe Flacco dragging the passing game to the league's second-worst adjusted net yards per attempt. When Burrow was on the field, the per-game scoring told you exactly who he still is. The problem wasn't quality. It was availability.

Now let's dig into the numbers. Burrow averaged 16.8 PPR points per game across his eight starts — back-end QB1 territory on a rate basis, but boom-or-bust, not steady floor. The efficiency was real: 66.8 percent completions, a completion percentage over expectation of plus 2.1 that ranked thirteenth among qualified passers, and an adjusted net yards per attempt of 6.6 that ranked fifteenth. Seventeen touchdowns to five interceptions in eight games pencils out to a 34-touchdown pace. His first two games back produced just 8.8 and 7.0 PPR — quiet, low-volume wins. Then he ripped off four straight games of 19-plus, including a 29-point smash against the Dolphins and a four-touchdown, 23-point night in a loss to Buffalo. The floor showed up when game scripts stayed tight and Chase Brown's 4.4 yards a carry took over. The ceiling games came when Burrow had to throw 35-plus times and feed Ja'Marr Chase, who finished with 125 catches for 1,412 yards.

The defining tension of Burrow's fantasy year showed up in a single throw against Buffalo. Fourth quarter, 2:19 left, third and six from the Bills 25, Cincinnati down 39 to 28. Burrow dropped back and hit Tee Higgins on a deep right shot for a 25-yard touchdown — an explosive third-down conversion worth plus 4.4 in expected points added. That's the version of Burrow who, per game, was the fifteenth-best fantasy quarterback in football. The version managers paid an early-round pick for. Eight games of it just weren't enough to outrun a seventeen-game schedule.