The Cincinnati Bengals have officially given up on yet another reclamation project, waiving former third-round WR Jermaine Burton yesterday. Hoping to land premium talents in lower rounds, the organization has overlooked character concerns, some working out, some not. Given that Burton didn’t even make it halfway through his rookie contract, this one is easy to evaluate.
In 2022, Jermaine Burton struck a fan on the field after a victory with Alabama. It’s not the first player the Bengals have drafted after infamously punching somebody, and probably won’t be the last, either. But Burton’s problems continued in the NFL, exposing a pattern of immaturity.
Burton only played 131 snaps for the Bengals, all during his rookie season. At the end of 2024, his name showed up in multiple police reports for domestic violence. The victim ultimately never filed charges, but it was another major red flag.
While the Bengals have plenty of wide receivers, Jermaine Burton never saw the field this year. They went out of their way to let it be known he was being scratched from Sunday’s game for non-injury-related reasons, even though he was also dealing with an ankle injury.
It turned out the Bengals were suspending him for one game. One imagines this was the culmination of numerous behind-the-scenes incidents exhibiting a general lack of professionalism, and perhaps worse.
Speaking about the Bengals’ decision to release Burton, HC Zac Taylor insisted that “everybody worked really hard at it”. The fact that it took hard work to get somebody to do their job and be an adult is, itself, telling. Not that the Steelers and every other team haven’t had their share of players they had to coral. One might immediately think of Antonio Brown, but my mind goes to Martavis Bryant. Santonio Holmes would be another—all wide receivers, though no position is immune to immaturity and lack of professionalism.
Jermaine Burton caught 4 passes on 14 targets for 107 yards during his time with the Bengals. During two seasons at Georgia (where he was teammates with several current Steelers), he caught 53 passes for 901 yards and 7 touchdowns. Later transferring to Alabama, he caught 79 passes for 1,475 yards and 15 touchdowns over two seasons.
During the build-up to the 2024 NFL Draft, many believed that Jermaine Burton was a first-round talent who would fall. He landed with the Bengals in the third round as a result of his character concerns, which proved well-founded. It remains to be seen what other teams may risk taking the chance on him.
It wouldn’t cost much, of course, on a third-round rookie contract. Burton is due $1,324,172 in 2026 and $1,588,758 in 2027, none of that guaranteed. If a team were to claim him off waivers, they would also owe him $235,464 for the final four games of the 2025 season. The Bengals, meanwhile, are trying to stave off elimination for another week. A loss to the Ravens on Sunday would do it
