When the 2020 NFL Draft rolls around, everyone expects the Bengals to select LSU Tigers quarterback Joe Burrow.

But have the Bengals already decided that Burrow will be the pick?

According to Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller, the Bengals have, in fact, decided that Burrow will be the team’s pick with the first overall selection, barring some wild trade offer that the team simply can’t refuse.

Over the last two weeks in various conversations with coaches at LSU, scouts, decision-makers across the NFL and agents who represent top quarterbacks, it has become quite clear that Burrow will be the selection. ”Barring some kind of Ricky Williams trade up the board, they’re taking [Burrow],” is how one coach put it in a text this week. Others will tell you this has been known since the Bengals secured the No. 1 overall pick. So why are there rumors that Cincinnati and Burrow aren’t a fit?

Miller added that the Bengals will continue to act as though a decision has not been made to preserve the ‘drama’ of who the top selection will be.

According to a coach who worked with Burrow in college, Cincinnati has clearly signaled the former LSU quarterback is its choice without coming out and saying it. And that’s how the NFL wants it. There is an unwritten rule that teams not tip their hands as far as the top pick, as the league wants the drama and excitement of the selection’s announcement on live television.

It would be ideal for the Bengals to commit to Burrow now so they can decide how they’re going to build their offense around him, and even decide what free agents they could/should sign to ensure he’s ready to thrive as soon as he takes his first snap in Cincinnati.

Having the next two months to get a head start at building the offense around Burrow is a great thing that the Bengals appear to be taking full advantage of.