Burrow to skip Senior Bowl; Simmons rising … There are unconfirmed reports that LSU QB Joe Burrow will not be in mobile for next week’s Senior Bowl. Burrow had reportedly been considering playing in the Senior Bowl, especially with the coaching staff at Cincinnati, the team just about everyone expects to select him with the first pick overall at this coming April’s draft, handling one of the two teams. However, after playing through this week’s national championship game with what was described as a bruised rib, Burrow has apparently decided on the ‘discretion is the better part of valor’ thing and will rest instead in preparation for the pre-draft process ahead. No doubt some folks are going to interpret the move as a bit of a slap in the face of the Bengals, especially with some reports that Burrow isn’t exactly enamored with the possibility of playing in Cincinnati. Of course, if he isn’t all that thrilled with the idea of playing for the Bengals, even though his family lives in Ohio and he actually started his college career at Ohio State, Burrow isn’t going to have much, if any, leverage. Still, it is something to watch over the course of the next few months. One other bit of buzz that we are picking up is that Clemson LB Isaiah Simmons, who finally did confirm that he will in fact be entering this year’s draft earlier this evening, may be inching closer to Ohio State DE Chase Young as the highest rated positional prospect on a lot of boards around the league. The athletic Simmons, who is expected to blow up next month’s combine, is simply the most versatile player in college football as he took snaps this year at ILB, OLB, FS, SS, and nickel corner and even on occasion lined up as an outside corner. Stay tuned!
