Sam Hubbard and Joe Burrow: The friendship at the core of Bengals renaissance

May 15, 2024

CINCINNATI — Like most great friendships, the one forged between Sam Hubbard and Joe Burrow developed over meals.

Not just any meals, though. Repeated, gluttonous attacks on the digestive system.

Hubbard was a sophomore backup at Ohio State, in the process of converting from Moeller High School safety to college defensive lineman. Burrow, working in the shadows of J.T. Barrett at quarterback, faced a redshirt season focused on reshaping a skinny frame coming out of Athens High School.

Inside a group chat of about 10 Ohio State football friends, a specific series of events continued to play out.

“I would always say, ‘Who wants to get some food?'” Hubbard said. “Nobody would want to go ever — except Joe. Him and I were always going to all-you-can-eat BDs Mongolian Grill or Hibachi just trying to make weight the next day. We just kind of always bonded that way back when you were both backups and trying to make weight together.”

Mounds of Asian stir fry would help reshape their bodies and, they wouldn’t realize in that moment, permanently reshape the image of Bengals football.

Just a couple of Ohio boys. pic.twitter.com/fC3kXj16pp

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 17, 2023

These meals allowed two Ohio kids playing in a sea of the country’s most talented prospects to connect about similar upbringings, views on taking care of others, attitudes toward football and approaches to leadership and winning.

Neither was the outgoing type constantly attracting attention of the locker room or much interested in the distractions that come along with playing major college football.

They merely discovered a genuine connection. And $10 all-you-can-eat stir fry.

“We just have similar mindsets,” Burrow said of their days in the Columbus dorms. “We always had similar goals and always worked really hard. Had some fun times as well. When you go through all that together in your formative years you develop a bond that lasts forever.”

On Dec. 14, 2019, Burrow took the stage at the Palladium Times Square in New York City to receive the Heisman Trophy and offer an acceptance speech as awe-inspiring and influential as his record-breaking senior season at LSU.

He stood as one of the most famous faces in the sports world.

Just three-and-a-half years earlier in New York, he stood next to Hubbard as a lowly intern at Goldman Sachs.

“Wolves of Wall Street,” was the caption on Burrow’s photo of the two taken along with Buckeyes receiver Austin Mack to post on Instagram about their week inside the business beast through a player internship program. Just one of many adventures taken over the years and since both left Ohio State in 2017. Hubbard declared for the NFL Draft and Burrow transferred to LSU.

What followed were trips to Nashville where close friend, Buckeyes teammate — and group chat member — Nick Bosa was getting selected second overall by the 49ers in the 2019 draft. They took a golfing trip to Arizona and played with Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker. They drove up to Ohio State for this past year’s game against Notre Dame. The list goes on.

One notable meetup came in the months before the 2020 draft. Hubbard was training in Fort Lauderdale following his second season, a demoralizing 2-14 campaign that concluded with the Bengals receiving the No. 1 overall pick.

Burrow was headed down to make the TV and radio rounds during Super Bowl week in Miami after winning the Heisman and national championship. Bosa was playing in the game for the 49ers. Like any good friend a few weeks out of college, Burrow offered to let Hubbard crash in his hotel room rather than make a 45-minute drive back and forth.

Bengals defensive end Carlos Dunlap pointed out on ESPN Hubbard was “courting him into the Bengal world.” The legend grew of Hubbard’s “recruitment.”

Burrow laughed Wednesday looking back at it.

“Nah,” he said. “We were just hanging. I hadn’t seen him in a while so it was good to see him at that time.”

Hubbard remembers the same, merely their old question being asked again: Who wants to get some food?

“We went to a few dinners,” he said, “just hanging out, it’s not like I was recruiting.”

No, recruiting was never the word. Talk circulated about the potential of Burrow balking at playing in Cincinnati. National media fanned the flames. Burrow was always going to play for the Bengals and any narrative otherwise was promptly cast aside weeks later at the NFL Scouting Combine.

But Hubbard served as one of the first points of contact about what his future would look like in Cincinnati. These are close friends. They were about to work together after three years apart. Burrow would be counted on to save the franchise — Hubbard’s hometown franchise, by the way.

Hubbard wanted to do what a good friend would in that situation: be transparent.

“I was just telling him about (Bengals head coach Zac Taylor),” Hubbard said. “You will really like this guy. We get a bad rap. But it’s not as bad as it seems, I promise. I wouldn’t lie to you.”

It’s fair to say three years, two AFC North titles and a Super Bowl appearance later, Hubbard didn’t.

Sam Hubbard recovers and returns a fumble 98 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter during the wild-card game against the Ravens. (Kareem Elgazzar / USA Today)

Did Taylor need this stamp of approval for Burrow to arrive in Cincinnati to help turn the tide of the organization? No.

Undeniably, however, the unfiltered, trustworthy vote of confidence mattered.

“It doesn’t hurt,” Taylor said, “to paint the appropriate picture of what a player like Joe Burrow is walking into from someone who has supported this franchise since birth, probably, and been a big piece of what we are building. That was an important part of that process.”

Taylor took time his first season and in that year’s exit meeting to reinforce what he saw in a man Mike Tirico would famously call “The Cincinnati Kid” during Sunday’s iconic moment of a 98-yard fumble return for a touchdown against the Ravens. He saw what a leader like Michael Brockers was for the Los Angeles Rams. A core cultural piece around which this entire project could be built.

“He was the first guy my first year where I was pushing, ‘Hey, this team respects you when you speak,'” Taylor said. “He was still a young player. And he was still finding his way through all that. But he’s always been that consistent piece everyone always looks to to set the standard. If Sam’s doing it that way, that’s the way I should do it.'”

Hubbard uniquely understood the process at hand with the Bengals and the path to changing the history and image of the franchise. The approach made sense in the same way his friendship with Burrow did.

Sitting in front of a Zoom near the visiting locker room of Arrowhead Stadium last January with worn black paint streaking down his cheeks and AFC Champions hat above his eyes, Hubbard couldn’t help but harken back to that moment in Miami, that concept of contemplating what they could help build together.

“The thing about Joe and myself, we are winners,” Hubbard said after the 27-24 OT win against the Chiefs. “We’ve won our whole lives. I have been pretty miserable along with a lot of teammates losing games the last few years. I told Joe, ‘We need you. You are the guy to turn us around. I know it.’ He embraced that.”

When Burrow first came to Cincinnati, any initial whereabouts typically came with Hubbard by his side. They were few and far between in the early months of the pandemic, but workouts at Black Sheep Performance came regularly and eventually a majority of teammates would follow them there awaiting the open of training camp.

Periodic dinners around town and help for Burrow acclimating to Hubbard’s hometown made him a natural tour guide.

Inside the building, finding a way to implement a culture in need of changing started incrementally. The addition of players like DJ Reader, Vonn Bell and a cast of others with a similar approach to the game filled in around them trying to figure out what they had.

Hubbard and Burrow were all about ball. No drama. No big speeches unless warranted. Relentless approach to doing the work and caring about teammates. These values and mindsets that bonded them at BD’s Mongolian Grill needed to permeate Paul Brown Stadium.

“Handle-your-business culture,” Taylor called it. “These guys handle their business every day. You know what you are getting every day. And we have been able to add a lot of people like them.”

Those not like them stood out and were weeded out.

“Them two being captains and having that chemistry is a huge thing,” Reader said. “Them both being from Ohio, a sense in real pride in that meant a lot to the whole locker room.”

The run to Super Bowl LVI only strengthened the foundation.

The world knew all about the difference Burrow made. His face plastered across buildings all over Los Angeles during Super Bowl week. His name on the lips of every NFL analyst in the country.

His nicknames were debated and ranked. His outfits were discussed and immortalized.

Then there was Hubbard, as responsible as any, chasing Patrick Mahomes around every blade of Arrowhead grass for three-plus hours showcasing a motor that helped inspire a team and defense built to play in his image. He repeated the process this year enjoying one of his most productive, well-rounded seasons with 56 pressures, 33 stops and nine sacks, via PFF. Only eight other edge rushers can make the same claim.

“He’s what this whole thing is built on — toughness, hard work and leadership,” Burrow said. “Those are the type of guys we try to bring in here. He’s one of my best friends and comes up with big plays, over and over. He gets his work done, has a positive attitude in the locker room. He’s the type of guy you want on your team.”

Burrow understands the deeper impact. Teammates, coaches and staff internally do as well. While weekly debates over Burrow’s MVP case raged on, Hubbard, the team’s back-to-back Walter Payton Man of the Year nominee, happily played the role of anonymous defensive lineman.

Until Sunday.

Suddenly, the dynamic switched. Following “The Fumble in the Jungle” and a moment that will live on in franchise history for generations all eyes moved away from Burrow and toward his close friend.

🗣️ OXYGENNNN@Sam_Hubbard_ was mic'd up for his legendary 98-yard run.

Mic'd Up | Altafiber pic.twitter.com/frspXRCsid

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 19, 2023

It was Hubbard standing next to Burrow during the postgame interview with NBC’s Melissa Stark. They walked off together, crowd screaming their names, game balls in hand, smiles across their faces, Hubbard admitting his now famous fear of being caught from behind.

It was Hubbard with NFL Network and ESPN on the field after the game. An interview request from The Wall Street Journal, Bengals team content and national television partners suddenly shoehorned into his regimented schedule. He even did his buddy a solid, as the request for a joint interview with Hubbard and Reader from CBS freed up what otherwise would have been the latest round of 25-minute media obligations for Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase together.

For Burrow, the center of attention who rarely prefers to be the center of attention, he was understandably thrilled to see his friend enjoy the 98-yard dash to immortality.

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“I texted him (Tuesday),” Burrow said. “I was like, ‘Man, it’s crazy. You had a 98-yard touchdown in the playoffs!’ He was like, ‘Man, I know! It’s wild.’ That was funny.”

Returning to the facility Wednesday in preparation for Buffalo meant leaving Sunday behind. Handle-your-business culture demands as much while trying to re-center and survive another playoff wave their standard helped create.

No surprise, for Burrow and Hubbard, that meant a meal.

“We just had lunch,” Hubbard said. “When I am talking to Joe, I’m not talking to a big-name quarterback. He’s not talking to me like the defensive end with the (star) turn. It’s just two guys, two friends hanging out. That’s what’s good about our relationship. When things get tough or go great on the team we kind of have that guy, friends in your corner in Joe to go to and put things in perspective and get that assurance we are going to get through whatever it is.”

(Top photo: Dylan Buell / Getty Images)

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