NFL Network insider Ian Rapaport confirmed on Monday morning that Cincinnati Bengals star quarterback Joe Burrow will need surgery to repair a torn ligament in his toe. This surgery will sideline him for at least three months.
Now, off to a 2-0 start for the first time in seven seasons, the Bengals have to find a viable long-term replacement for Burrow at QB for what could very well be the rest of the season. Jake Browning, the Bengals backup entered Sunday’s game against the Jaguars and delivered a volatile but ultimately successful performance to lead them to a 31-27 victory.
Do the Bengals stick with Jake Browning for the remainder of the season? Here are five quarterback options for Cincinnati to consider in the wake of the unfortunate Burrow news.
Jake Browning
As of Monday, Sept. 15, Browning is the only quarterback on the Bengals active roster, and he proved yesterday that he is capable of leading the offense, though there will be plenty of speed bumps along the way.
After entering the game against Jacksonville Sunday, Browning threw two touchdowns and three interceptions, while completing 21/32 passes for 241 yards.
Browning started seven games for the Bengals in 2023 when Burrow was dealing with an injury. In that time, he led the team to a record of 4-3 with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions while completing over 70 percent of his pass attempts.
Browning has been with the organization for three years now and clearly has a rapport with his coaches and receivers. He is certainly the safe option for Zac Taylor as someone who knows the Bengals system intimately and has experience in the starting role with the team and its offensive weapons. The only problem is that his ceiling is very limited, and with two elite receivers in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, the Bengals may want to look around the league for QB’s that have more of a penchant for big plays.
Kirk Cousins
The absolute best outside option for the Bengals is in Kirk Cousins, who is currently backing up second year QB Michael Penix Jr. in Atlanta.
Cousins currently commands over $27 million from the Falcons which is an absolutely bonkers number for a backup. Now that Penix has proven through the first two weeks that he is capable of leading the Falcons, there is now reason Atlanta wouldn’t be open to moving Cousins for the right price.
The longtime Washington and Minnesota starter has all of the experience to back up the price tag accompanied with his name, with 288 career touchdown passes in 164 games since 2012. At 37 years old, Cousins has almost assuredly played his last snap with Atlanta unless Penix were to get hurt, and may not get signed anywhere else once his tenure is up as a Falcon.
Cousins has the experience and arm to lead what is already a playoff caliber roster for the remainder of the regular season, and surely good enough to lead the Bengals to the playoffs.
It would be a win-win-win for everyone involved.
Free Agents Around the League: Desmond Ridder, Taylor Heinicke, Kyle Trask
These three options each offer something different, if the Bengals aren’t willing to go down the Jake Browning path or the Falcons decide not to move “Kirk-o-chainz.”
Desmond Ridder spent the summer with the Bengals through training camp after being released from the Las Vegas Raiders last season. Pretty much the only thing Ridder has going for him in this scenario is that he knows the Bengals offense as it is currently constructed. He left a lot to be desired in his three years of work with the Falcons and Raiders, throwing 16 touchdowns and 14 interceptions in 25 career games while his teams went 8-10 with him as a starter.
There’s a very modest amount of upside with Ridder as he has decent mobility and arm strength, but there’s a little too long of a track record of shaky play for him to be a real candidate for Cincinnati.
Taylor Heinicke took the league by storm as a guy that came out of nowhere to start a playoff game for the Washington Commanders in 2020, when he delivered a gutsy but ultimately unsuccessful performance.
Heinicke has the highest upside of any of the free agent targets, though he’s only played in 18 games in the last three seasons, so he’d be a little rusty. In his full season as a starter with Washington in 2021, he threw 20 touchdown passes and 15 interceptions for 3,419 yards.
Former Buccaneers 2nd round draft pick Kyle Trask has no NFL starting experience, but is a game manager to a T, something that makes sense for the Bengals offense. Trask was a great college QB with Florida, very risk averse and smart, though with very limited upside.
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