Mel Kiper Jr.'s odd statement on Burrow, Manning after Mendoza pick

ESPN NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. delivered a bit of a head-scratcher during the network's draft broadcast in the moments leading up to the Las Vegas Raiders' selection of Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza as the first pick of the first round.

Kiper said there were questions about Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow and NFL Hall of Famer Peyton Manning being able to carry a team.

Manning was the first overall pick in the 1998 draft; Burrow was selected first overall by the Bengals in 2020.

In 2020, "Get Up" host Mike Greenberg asked Kiper, "It feels like when we talk about this pick and this draft, it almost feels like people are positioning this like Burrow is being set up to fail in Cincinnati. What do you think of that perspective?"

"I'm disgusted by it, Greeny. It makes me sick," Kiper responded. "And I've been screaming about this for months. I hear this garbage everybody wants to spew about the Bengals and it's a horrible place to go ... it's awful ... you've got no chance for a quarterback to have success. What are you dreaming? You want to just throw out inaccurate information? Fine. It makes me sick. '81 and '88 may be too long ago. But they won in '81 with Kenny Anderson, in '88 with Boomer Esiason - that's too far removed? Fine."

"Let's fast forward to 2011, 2015. That's not 100 years ago, guys," Kiper continued. "Okay, they had five straight winning seasons, five straight playoff appearances. Should have beat Pittsburgh - it was a penalty late that cost them that opportunity. They had an 11 and 12 win season mixed in with those five straight years of getting to the playoffs. OK? And with - he got hurt in a playoff game, where they may have won that game. had success. So this notion that Joe Burrow's going to a place that's never won, never had success, never had a quarterback do anything - is utterly ridiculous. ... C'mon!"