Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has taken a unique approach to the Christmas tradition by giving the members of the offensive line some authentic fossils.
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According to ESPN's Ben Baby, Burrow invited the members of this group to his house ahead of Week 17. They then each received fossils arranged on displays based on their seniority and when they arrived.
Baby reports that center Ted Karras picked out a tusk from a woolly mammoth. Tackles Orlando Brown Jr. and Amarius Mims received cave bear skulls while left guard Dylan Fairchild received a Tyrannosaurus rex artifact.
This marks a major change from last year's round of gift giving when Burrow gave the members of the offensive line authentic samurai swords.
For those who watched the "Quarterback" series on Netflix, this year's gifts should not be a surprise. Burrow made it quite clear during one of the episodes that he is a big fan of history and fossils, in particular.
This year, Joe Burrow gifted his offensive linemen authentic dinosaur, bear and mammoth fossils for Christmas 🦖
Joe Burrow: "When aren't fossils on your mind? They go back millions of years. That's sick." 😂
📺 Quarterback: Season 2 pic.twitter.com/FkqcOBwdjs
— Netflix Sports (@netflixsports) December 27, 2025
"Somehow, there's this one fossil that proved Darwin's theory of evolution," Burrow said on the Netflix series after a trip to the Field Museum in Chicago. "It's called the Archaeopteryx. There's like 12 of them in the world. We got to see one of those."
Burrow then explained during a sitdown with the camera crew that he and a few of his teammates got a behind the scenes look at a "library" of artifacts that not many people get to see. He compared the situation to a shoe store and the employee seeing if they have something in stock in the back of the room.
"Why were fossils on my mind?" Burrow asked. "I don't know, because they're cool? When aren't fossils on your mind? They go back millions of years. That's sick."
The NFL stars have taken many different approaches to this tradition of hooking up the offensive line. Packers quarterback Jordan Love gave his team sneakers while Burrow went for the historic approach.
Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers chose to purchase several Can-Am Maverick X3 off-road vehicles capable of taking on the toughest terrain. Colts running back Jonathan Taylor took a similar approach while giving his offensive linemen Polaris Ranger Crew XP 1000 NorthStar UTVs.
