Chris Canty’s latest hot take: Joe Burrow isn’t an elite QB

ESPN has a new take machine — and his name is Chris Canty.

In the same week he was confronted with an insane Jalen Hurts flip-flop, the Worldwide Leader’s newly-minted resident takesmith has been confronted about Joe Burrow — again. The former NFL defensive lineman emerged as what we at Awful Announcing deemed as the ‘Sports Radio Personality of the Year.’

Still, it’s not like Canty’s takes haven’t perturbed others before.

There was that time when Dan Orlovsky called out Canty for his “ludicrous” take on Joe Burrow just earlier this year. When the Cincinnati Bengals started the season 0-3, Canty was tired of hearing the excuses and lamented an excellent Burrow performance in a 38-33 loss to Jayden Daniels and Washington Commanders as “not enough.”

In Canty’s eyes, not only is Burrow “not enough,” but he’s also starting to beat the overrated drum, too.

He threw out Burrow’s “not an elite quarterback” as if it were standard commentary, something relatively known.

Canty offered it up like he was saying, “Patrick Mahomes is good at football.”

“We have to get out of this thing where we want to anoint everybody an elite quarterback,” he said on Friday’s First Take. “I’m just saying, we can’t give the runner-up to the runner-up to the runner-up, ‘elite quarterback status.’ There ain’t but three spots on the medal stand. When we start talking about the podium, it’s a gold medal slot, it’s a silver medal slot and it’s a bronze medal slot.

“The fourth-place guy doesn’t get an acknowledgment. And that’s where I’m at with the Joe Burrow of it all. I think when you look at the big three, when you look at what Patrick Mahomes, when you look at what Lamar Jackson has done, when you look at Josh Allen’s body of work, those guys have done more in this league, in terms of being able to validate their abilities as a quarterback.”

“[Joe Burrow] is not an elite quarterback.” —@ChrisCanty99 😳 pic.twitter.com/EnXJNiyPwK

— First Take (@FirstTake) January 31, 2025

This is what Awful Announcing’s Ben Axelrod wrote about Canty inserting himself as ESPN’s new hot takesmith.

Because Chris Canty is willing to say “the thing.”

You know “the thing,” which doesn’t only help his radio show, Unsportsmanlike, go viral on a regular basis, but also fill hours of subsequent ESPN programming. Criticizing former Duke star Kyle Filipowski for not doing more to avoid injury during a court-storming, blaming Joe Burrow — and not the Bengals’ defense — for Cincinnati’s 0-3 start, calling for the Dallas Cowboys to tank and starting an on-air feud with Stephen A. Smith by referring to one of his takes as “asinine”; they all qualify as “the thing.” And to this point in his tenure as an ESPN Radio host, Canty’s been willing to say it all.

Sound familiar?

“When it comes to being able to acknowledge the level of player that you’re — we got a couple of ways we measure that in the league,” Canty added. “It’s Super Bowl rings, its MVPs and its All-Pros. Joe Burrow ain’t got none of those. Joe Burrow’s claim to fame is once upon a time — four years ago — he beat Patrick Mahomes in a playoff game on his way to losing the Super Bowl. I’m sorry, that doesn’t give you elite status.

That left Stephen A. Smith and Cam Netwon equally perplexed.

This past season, Burrow only led the NFL in passing yards (4,918) and passing touchdowns (43).

But this is who Canty is — and has emerged as on ESPN.

And while he may not have Burrow’s résumé as a player, he’s clearly not afraid to throw a few interceptions of his own when it comes to hot takes.