Callahan said the Bengals go into all 45 formal combine interviews with tape of the player so he can break it down. For Burrow, he said, there would be questions about protections and route progressions. They were probably going to ask him about the early breakdowns in the national championship game against Clemson and how he and the Tigers overcame it.

But what has impressed Callahan aren't the highlight scrambles or the deep, true throws despite a punishing rush altering the throw. What has impressed are those third downs where coolly, almost imperceptibly, Burrow sidesteps the rush in the pocket while locking his eyes downfield.

"Everyone sees the big one. All those crazy scrambles," Callahan said. "But it's the ones where he slides once, or slides right and pushes up and makes an off platform throw and puts it right in the spot where he has to catch it. Those are the most impressive to me. It's the most translatable skill you see that happens over and over again. The big plays are great; I hope he has a lot of them. But it's the subtle movements that he does well and delivers an accurate throw."