Last year, Joe Shiesty suffered a knee injury just in his first season with the Bengals of the year, for which he was out for several months which is sad because it will always be the dream of any kid who plays football will always be to throw the touchdown pass that wins your team the championship. But as of 2023, the 26-year-old recovered and returned to lead his companions towards the championship – an undeniable and irrefutable dream of the kid who grew up in the city of The Plains in the state of Ohio. Joe Shiesty’s trajectory has always been marked by Athens High School and we’ve got some interesting stories about the quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals! Just keep reading!

Joe Shiesty: 8 Things To Know About The Cincinnati Bengals Leader! 

1. A great talent born to face challenges in Ohio:

Despite being born in Iowa, Joe Shiesty is a full-fledged talent in Ohio, a state that has produced big names like Roger Staubach, Charles Woodson, Ben Roethlisberger, and Russell Wilson, among others.

As a child, Joe Shiesty always demonstrated something special when he began his third-grade primary school. His quarterbacks’ coach at his high school, Nathan White, refers to the things Joe Shiesty did when he was his player as “just spectacular.” He even points out that he is “ not surprised ” that his former protégé led the Bengals to the Super Bowl.

As Joe Shiesty grew older, White became head coach at Athens High School, where with Joe as a quarterback, they reached the state finals as a senior as an eligible player at High School, as well as becoming regional champions in their three years as owner. Joe Shiesty just wanted to be a defenseman, like his father and brothers, but unfortunately, his school team didn’t have a quarterback and, hell, the little guy wasn’t bad at all. At just 7 years old, the young athlete was already beginning to stand out. They lived in Fargo then, where his father, Jim, worked as an assistant for the North Dakota State Bison. With the family’s move to Ohio, Joe continued to play quarterback, now for the Athens High School Bulldogs. His career there was so impressive that two years ago, they renamed their football stadium after him! 

Named Mr. Football in Ohio (best player in the state) in that year, 2014, Joe Shiesty was left with one pending task: to be state champion. In a loss that would mark him for life, Athens was unable to lift the state trophy after losing the final, despite the extraordinary stat line signed by the quarterback: 26 of 45 completions, 446 yards per pass, and 6 passes from touchdown. Joe Shiesty refers to that loss as ” the worst day of his life.”

2. From the worst day of his life, to one of the best:

From then on, it seems, fate was testing this quarterback with the desire to show everyone that, within his being, there was a born winner who was destined for great things. On May 28, 2014, Joe Shiesty committed to a scholarship with Ohio State University (OSU), the state’s flagship university where he grew up – one of the best days of his life and a dream come true. 

However, when something is too good to be true, it is not. Between 2015 and 2017, Joe Shiesty was considered a red shirt, that is, by decision of the program, his participation with the team was delayed to extend his eligibility, since the coaching staff at OSU decided that JT Barrett was better to command his offense. 

3. Battling with Dwayne Haskins:

Joe Shiesty (the chosen one) was signed as a rookie free agent by the Saints in 2018 after going undrafted in that year’s Draft and is currently without a team in the NFL.

In 2018, when Barrett ended his eligibility, it seemed that Joe Shiesty would finally become the starting quarterback for the Buckeyes, however, fate once again reserved a cruel play for him and, after for the starting position, he made the determination to transfer from university to having been relegated – once again – to the bench. Haskins, by the way, was selected fifteenth in the first round of the 2019 Draft by Washington, cut a year later, and signed a future reserve contract with the Steelers in 2021.

4. Joe Shiesty’s decision to head to LSU changed his life: 

On May 18, 2018, Joe Shiesty “moved his talents” from Ohio to Louisiana, to become the starting quarterback for the Louisiana State University (LSU) Tigers. As a junior at LSU, he had a fairly modest season. In 13 games as a starter, he has thrown for 2,894 yards, 16 touchdown passes, and 5 interceptions. What head coach Ed Orgeron saw in the young quarterback, however, was something special.

At the conclusion of that 2018 season, Orgeron decided to bring offensive assistant Joe Brady to the team from the New Orleans Saints to become the Tigers’ passing play coordinator. With the philosophy of work inherited from his parents, as well as what he learned in his time at Athens High School, plus the hunger to prove that within his being there was a winning quarterback, Joe Shiesty absorbed like a sponge the concepts taught by Brady.

The result: an undefeated season, a Heisman Trophy and the best season in college football history for a quarterback. The cherry on the cake: the NCAA national championship

5. Selected first overall in the NFL in 2020:

In 2020, Joe Shiesty was selected number 1 overall in the Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. Immediately, and despite what had been shown throughout his career, the general sentiment around the league towards him was the same: he couldn’t erase the franchise’s losing history.

His rookie year began promisingly, albeit somewhat discreetly in the shadow of Justin Herbert who was causing a sensation with the Chargers as pick 6. However, a torn ACL in Week 10 against Washington left him out of action for the rest of the campaign; The doubts, then, facing the 2021 season, crowded around his recovery from injury and if he could confirm what was shown in his rookie year.

6. Comeback of the Year in 2021: 

Joe Shiesty’s response in 2021 included a 70% completion rate, 4,611 passing yards, 34 touchdowns, and a divisional title (sweeping the series against Pittsburgh and Baltimore, in passing). All this, by the way, is the most sacked quarterback in the entire NFL.

After winning the national title as MVP back in 2019, his choice of number 1 in the draft was practically sung. Even so, during the process, he had to listen to the old chant about the lack of power again (somewhat shocking, considering that in this 2021 season, he has been the QB with the most touchdowns of more than 30 yards), and the new ones about his hands small, and even that he was too old…at just 23 years!

Nevertheless, Joe lived with anticipation through those days, convinced, after meeting with Zac Taylor, that he would play for his state team, a couple of hours’ drive from his home. Immune, though annoyed, to rumors that the Bengals preferred Herbert, or that he would refuse to play Cincinnati, forcing them to trade the pick. Even his prudence in going to sign the contract due to the confinement due to the pandemic was understood in some media as a protest against the election.

7. Changing three decades of losing steaks: 

The weakness of the Bengali offensive line is criticized, and rightly so. However, Joe has never uttered a word against his teammates. In fact, last Christmas he gifted an impressive watch to every member of the line, including the Practice Squad. His behavior after the torn ligaments suffered in 2020 was at all times exemplary. Advancing deadlines in his recovery. Overcoming the inconvenience of the tutor of his knee that limited his movements. Accepting the injury as one more circumstance of this sport. In his own words: ” if I die without scars, it will be a sign that I did nothing worth fighting for.”

Therefore it is clear that while settling that debate, the questions revolved around whether he would be able to break the 31-year drought that the Bengals had without winning in the postseason; something that neither Carson Palmer or Andy Dalton were able to achieve.

Not only did he break the postseason winless streak of more than three decades in Cincinnati, but he did it in style. But that was not enough, it had to be confirmed. First, it was the AFC’s top-seeded Tennessee Titans. Then it was the Kansas City Chiefs and their superstar, Patrick Mahomes. No problem for Joe Shiesty! 

Always undaunted by pressure, being the leader they’ve been waiting for for years in Cincinnati, Joe Shiesty is now one game away from confirming his status as an elite quarterback. It seems that having reached the Super Bowl could be enough in, just, his second year as a professional. However, looking back on how his career has unfolded, Joe Shiesty wants to cap off a very promising start in the NFL with the highest award in the sport he has loved and breathed since he was born.

8. Our final thoughts on Joe Shiesty:

Many would question not just Joe Shiesty’s career success, but also how soon he was going to turn around a historically losing franchise like the Bengals. For example, injuries have plagued the Cincinnati leader since last year – first his knee and we’ve also seen him with a dislocated little finger on his pitching hand. 

Fortunately, Joe Shiesty confirms to his fans that he’s not a quarterback who shies away from contact, or winning! Winning is in his nature and that it is, today, the best possibility for a city and a franchise, historically punished with painful defeats, to finally be able to write its name in gold letters in the history of the NFL. This is all because Joe is a Cincinnati leader who leads the troops from the distant hill, but goes down to fight in the trenches – with an enthusiastic approach. He is contagious!