Mitchell Tinsley calls Joe Burrow ‘the best QB in the league,’ but are they wasting his prime?

TMZ Sports caught Cincinnati Bengals wideout Mitchell Tinsley ahead of Saturday’s preseason finale against the Indianapolis Colts. The preseason riser did not hesitate when asked about Joe Burrow’s place among quarterbacks, and his words turned heads. As final roster cuts approach Tuesday at 1 p.m.

PT (4 p.m. ET), Tinsley’s comments frame both his own rise and a bigger question around how Cincinnati is building around its franchise QB.

Mitchell Tinsley’s case for Joe Burrow and the Bengals’ WR duo

As per TMZ Sports, Tinsley praised Burrow without qualification. “He’s the best quarterback in the league and I get to practice and play with him in games,” Tinsley said. “It’s really awesome to build chemistry with him on and off the field. He’s one of those guys, he’s so smart, so intelligent.

It’s awesome being out there with him.”Tinsley also pointed to the standard set by Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, and how that accelerates his development. “It’s a lot of fun. To go out there and [go] ‘Okay, how did [Ja’Marr] run that route or how did Tee run that route.’ Add things to your tool bank. At the end of the day, it’s all about getting better. Iron sharpens iron.”The wide receiver is pushing to make the 53-man roster with the league’s cut deadline on Tuesday.

He said he is focused on what comes next, not last week’s breakout, and kept the lens on improvement, as per TMZ Sports.

Why analysts say Cincinnati is risking Joe Burrow’s prime

A separate debate continues around Cincinnati’s roster construction and defensive trajectory. Former safety Ryan Clark argued that some roster strain traces back to Burrow’s influence on keeping elite weapons together, which concentrated spending at wide receiver while making defensive upgrades harder, as per Ryan Clark.

The logic: paying Tee Higgins at a near–WR1 level and preparing for Ja’Marr Chase’s top-of-market value compresses flexibility elsewhere.Stephen A. Smith took a different tack, placing the responsibility on the franchise, not Burrow. Smith’s view is that Cincinnati has not supplied even an average defense often enough, and that Burrow does not need a Chiefs-level unit to contend, as per Stephen A. Smith.Contract dynamics add friction. The Trey Hendrickson situation remains a flashpoint over guarantees and structure going forward.

On “The Dan Patrick Show,” former lineman Mark Schlereth criticized the broader philosophy. “Listen, Trey Hendrickson is a phenomenal football player. Love watching him play. But in Cincinnati, the one thing they want to do is they want to sit back in shotgun and throw the football… their offensive coordinator came out this offseason and said, ‘Hey, we just got to outscore people.

’ And I thought to myself, how’d that work for you last year? It’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Schlereth said, as per “The Dan Patrick Show.”He connected that approach back to Burrow’s workload. “They’re wasting Joe Burrow because they basically make him play the entirety of four quarters on a high dive… it’s all on Joe Burrow 24/7 in Cincinnati. So whether they sign Hendrickson or not, that’s not going to change the philosophy of how they play.”The takeaway across those viewpoints: if resources and philosophy tilt too far toward outscoring opponents, even strong edge play or splash additions may not change outcomes. The onus is on Cincinnati to balance its passing-game identity with a defense that can hold the line when Burrow and the offense inevitably hit stretches where drives stall.