After using a third-round pick on Jermaine Burton in the 2024 NFL Draft, the Cincinnati Bengals got four receptions for 107 yards and 13 kickoff returns for a 29.1-yard average from the former Alabama wide receiver.
Burton was limited to 131 offensive snaps as a rookie, and off-the-field issues likely cost him some playing time.
But Bengals coach Zac Taylor is looking ahead with Burton as Cincinnati prepares for the 2025 NFL season.
“All he can handle is the present right now,” Taylor said during a Tuesday press conference, “and I think he’s done a good job of that this offseason. He’s been in the building. You see him in the building outside of work hours, doing his own thing, rehabbing – prehabbing, I should say – just keeping his body right.
“And so again, he’s attacked every practice and meeting the right way, and that’s what you can control right now, and so I appreciate that from Jermaine.”
That comment had a different tone than the response of Duke Tobin, the Bengals’ director of player personnel, when asked about Burton while at the Reese’s Senior Bowl in Mobile.
“He’s done nothing, and he’s going to have to start doing something quickly,” Tobin said. “We knew we were taking a risk. We felt comfortable that we could help him through some of the challenges he’s had in the past, and we’re going to continue to try to help him. But this is professional football, and you have to take accountability, and you have to be accountable to your teammates, your coaches and the team that you’re playing for, and he has to figure that out. He’s got to figure that out fast.”
Burton had two career receptions that had gained 47 and 41 yards and was coming off a career-high 24 offensive snaps when Cincinnati prepped him for a bigger role with wide receiver Tee Higgins sidelined for a Nov. 3 game against the Las Vegas Raiders.
Instead, Burton was designated as a game-day inactive after Taylor said Burton had been “a big part of the plan.” Taylor said Burton had been benched because “we just got to handle all of our business the right way.”
With Higgins still out, Burton came back the next week to make his only start and play a career-high 39 snaps in a 35-34 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. He had an 11-yard reception against Baltimore, then had an 8-yard reception and 18 offensive snaps in a 34-27 loss to the Los Angeles Chargers in the next game.
But in Cincinnati’s remaining six games, Burton played 25 snaps and had no receptions.
The Bengals left Burton home as the team traveled to Pittsburgh for its season finale. It was later reported that in the week before the game a 19-year-old woman who had been dating Burton called 911 to report the wide receiver had chased her into her apartment, broken her phone, choked and hit her. The woman also told police Burton had put a knife to his neck and threatened suicide. No charges were filed.
Burton came to Cincinnati after he had 79 receptions for 1,475 yards and 15 touchdowns in two seasons at Alabama.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X at@AMarkG1.