Joe Burrow’s fan club just got dealt a devastating blow — one that has nothing to do with football. On Aug. 22, former Cincinnati Bengals player Adam “Pacman” Jones seemingly confirmed the rumors that Burrow is engaged to longtime girlfriend Olivia Holzmacher. Burrow, the Bengals current quarterback, isn’t just admired for his spiral; he’s also a popular NFL crush. Articles like “The Internet Is Crushing Hard On Joe Burrow” and “Why Are Straight Guys In Love With Joe Burrow?” are everywhere — not to mention, plenty of fans have taken their love for Burrow to Twitter and TikTok.
Burrow’s relationship status has never seemed like much of a deterrent to the online thirst. Since his start in the NFL, the quarterback has been off the market. He started dating college sweetheart Holzmacher back in 2017, when they met at Ohio State, and they’ve been together ever since.
Though the couple has not confirmed engagement rumors, they’ve been picking up steam since mid-August, when Deux Moi shared a tip from one of her followers. “There’s talk around this smaller market sports city that their star quarterback is engaged to his long term girlfriend. Apparently, the QB’s jeweler (whose account is private rn) posted a picture of a ring and tagged him which makes people convinced he popped the question. his girl has also been spotted wearing the ring around town. but for now they are keeping things lowkey,” the insider claimed. (Deux Moi was not able to verify the tip.)
Right away, Twitter and Tiktok took the rumor and ran with it, mourning their crush’s reported relationship status.
Suffice to say, they did *not* take it well.
On Aug. 22, the speculation got significantly more legit. During an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, Jones, who used to play for the Bengals, seemingly confirmed the engagement rumors. “I think life is great for Burrow,” he said, per Page Six. “Just got engaged, too.” However, it’s unclear if Jones has knowledge of the situation or is simply repeating the online discourse. Jones stopped playing for the Bengals in 2017, three years before Burrow joined the team.
