Beleaguered Wide Receiver Jermaine Burton Released By Cincinnati Bengals
In a move that surprised exactly zero people paying attention to the Cincinnati Bengals’ sideline drama this year, the team has officially cut ties with Wide Receiver Jermaine Burton.
Head Coach Zac Taylor announced on Monday, just a day after Burton was suspended for the team’s Week 14 loss to the Buffalo Bills. If you’re keeping score at home, that suspension cost Burton a cool $59,320 and, ultimately, his roster spot.
A Gamble That Didn’t Pay Off
Let’s be real: Drafting Burton in the third round of the 2024 NFL Draft was always a bit of a roll of the dice. The kid has undeniable talent. He has that rare ability to stretch the field, the kind of speed that makes defensive coordinators wake up in a cold sweat. On paper, he was supposed to be the perfect complement to Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. But “on paper” doesn’t catch passes on Sundays.
The red flags were there before he even put on a Bengals jersey. Burton fell in the draft largely due to behavioral concerns, and unfortunately for everyone involved, those concerns followed him to the pros. It is the classic high-risk, high-reward scenario, and this time, the house won.
The Final Straw
So, what actually happened? While the team hasn’t released a detailed manifesto of grievances, the writing has been on the wall. Burton didn’t even make the trip to Buffalo. He was ruled out for “non-injury related reasons” before the suspension hammer dropped 90 minutes before kickoff.
Ian Rapoport called it the “final straw,” and frankly, it feels like the end of a long, exhausting road. We’re talking about a second-year player who caught just four passes in his rookie season and hadn’t seen the field for a single snap in 2025. When you’re not contributing and you’re causing headaches off the field, the math gets pretty simple for an NFL front office.
Where Does He Go From Here?
This is the sad part of the business. You hate to see a young guy with so much potential fumble the bag this hard. Taylor, usually pretty diplomatic, simply said, “We wish him the best,” and noted he hopes a change of scenery does Burton some good.
Now, Burton hits the waiver wire. Will another team take a flyer on him? Probably. Talent is the ultimate currency in this league, and someone, somewhere, will convince themselves they can “fix” him. But for now, the Burton experiment in Cincinnati goes down as a swing and a miss.
The Bengals are sitting at 4-9, their playoff hopes are on life support, and they just didn’t have the bandwidth to babysit anymore. As for Burton? He’s got some growing up to do if he wants his next stop to last longer than this one.
