Joe Burrow Injury: Evaluating Best Replacements and Where Bengals Go From Here

The Cincinnati Bengals’ season took a dramatic turn on Sunday.

While the Bengals were able to defeat the Jacksonville Jaguars to improve to 2-0, Joe Burrow suffered a turf toe injury that will require surgery and sideline him for three months. It’s obviously a major blow for a Cincinnati squad that had hopes of competing this season, losing the quarterback who led the NFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns in 2024.

Jake Browning is in line to start in Burrow’s place, at least for now. Browning’s performance on Sunday was pretty uneven, though, completing 21 of 32 passes for 241 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions to go with a rushing score. He also went 4-3 when he filled in for Burrow in the back half of the 2023 season, throwing for 1,936 yards, 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions that year.

Cincinnati has already made some moves at quarterback in the wake of Burrow’s injury, reportedly signing Mike White and Sean Clifford to its practice squad. It also elevated Brett Rypien to the 53-man roster. 

But do the Bengals need to make a bigger move at quarterback? How will they fare for the rest of the season? FOX Sports NFL writers Henry McKenna, Eric D. Williams and Ralph Vacchiano weigh in on Burrow and the quarterback situation in Cincinnati. 

Do you think the Bengals should roll with Jake Browning for the rest of the season?

Henry McKenna: It’s an oversight that Browning was the Bengals’ choice for QB2 to start the season. That’s the first problem, particularly that Burrow has historically dealt with a number of major injuries. The Bengals saw what Browning did in 2023 and said: “Yeah, we want more of that.” Woof. But here’s the conundrum. Now that they’ve made the decision to make it into the regular season with Browning, they’re sort of stuck with him. We’ve seen quarterbacks make it work with quarterbacks for short periods after trades or free-agency acquisitions. But it’s truly rare to see a quarterback step in with any sort of success. We’ve really only ever Jimmy Garoppolo and Carson Palmer do it.

Eric Williams: Browning is 4-3 as a starter and has played solidly in spot duty, but for as long as Burrow will be unavailable and where this team expects to be at the end of the regular season – in the playoffs – a more accomplished option is needed. The Bengals have enough playmakers at their disposal to give Browning a chance to be successful in the short term. And road games against the Minnesota Vikings and the Denver Broncos over the next two weeks provide an opportunity to compete before facing tougher opponents in the Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers after that. But if the Bengals are serious about reaching the postseason again, they’ll pull the trigger on a trade. 

Jake Browning is set to start in Joe Burrow’s place, at least for now. (Photo by Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images/Getty Images)

Ralph Vacchiano: What option do they have? Really, I’m asking. Because there aren’t really a lot of great-looking backups around the league. Mostly, there’s a pretty good reason those guys are backups. So while they could certainly try and trade for, say, a Jameis Winston (New York Giants) or Drew Lock (Seattle Seahawks) or Sam Howell (Philadelphia Eagles) or Kirk Cousins (Atlanta Falcons), aren’t they better off with a quarterback who has been in their offensive system for three years and has a chemistry with their current players? Playing quarterback in the NFL is hard. Learning an offensive system on the fly, during a season, is even harder. So yeah, let Browning roll.  He went 4-3 filling in for Burrow two years ago. All he has to do is keep them afloat for a couple of months until Burrow is back.

If you don’t think Browning is the guy moving forward, which quarterback should Cincinnati trade for?

McKenna: There’s one name that everyone is going to talk about: Kirk Cousins. He is friendly enough of a quarterback for the different offshoots of the Rams’ coaching tree. Cousins obviously had his best year under coach Kevin O’Connell, one of Sean McVay’s many disciples. Cousins is currently in Atlanta under Zac Robinson, another McVay understudy. And so it makes sense that Zac Taylor — who, you guessed it, spent two years in L.A. before taking the Bengals’ job — might have interest in working with Cousins. As I mentioned, it’s a long shot to expect Cousins to succeed. But his knowledge of the system could create some optimism.

Williams: Kirk Cousins is the best player potentially available, but the Bengals wouldn’t be willing to spend the draft capital or money that it would take to put Cousins on the roster. Yes, Jameis Winston has struggled with turnovers in the past. But he has a presence and would put up big numbers in an offense like the Bengals offer. The other player I would consider is in the Pacific Northwest playing for the Seattle Seahawks in Drew Lock. He’s got a strong arm, is talented and would be a better answer for the season than Browning for the long-term. And rookie Jalen Milroe represents the future at quarterback for Seattle. 

Kirk Cousins might be the most decorated backup quarterback in the league right now. (Photo by David Berding/Getty Images)

Vacchiano: If they’re going to trade for a quarterback, it better be a veteran. They need someone who has done it before, who knows how to pick up a new offense, and who can minimize any learning curve. They don’t have time for struggles. They need someone who can step right in. And honestly, Henry is right. They only one available who makes any sense would be Kirk Cousins. Who knows if the Falcons would trade him? The cost might be too much considering the Bengals think they can get by with Jake Browning. But if they are having any second thoughts the only quarterback worth making a play for is Cousins.

How well do you think the Bengals will do the rest of the season without Burrow?

McKenna: It’s possible they could make the playoffs. The division isn’t as intimidating as it once was. The Steelers look beatable, and you should never count out Aaron Rodgers to drag an organization down. The Cleveland Browns will never stop being the Browns. And so even with the Baltimore Ravens continuing to dominate, the Bengals could jockey for a wild-card spot. If they’re going to do that, it’ll be on the shoulders of the guys they gave major contracts this offseason: receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins and edge Trey Hendrickson. Good thing they paid to keep those guys around.

Williams: I think the margins are too small, and with the types of talented teams on their schedule over the duration of the season, Cincinnati will be fortunate to hover around the .500 mark. Although improved under new defensive coordinator Al Golden (the Bengals are allowing 21.5 points per game), the Bengals still lack elite playmakers on all three levels of their defense. And without Burrow, it will be tough for Cincinnati to consistently outscore its opponents, especially in the bruising AFC North. 

Vacchiano: Well, the good news is they’re already 2-0, so at least they’re not in a hole from one of their patented slow starts. But the bad news is this: Their next five games are at Minnesota, at Denver, vs. the Lions, at Green Bay, and vs. the Steelers. That’s not an easy road. It gets better after that. And maybe there’s a shot Burrow will be back in time for their November-December stretch where they play the Ravens twice and Buffalo Bills once in a three-week span. But honestly, the Bengals are probably a .500 team without Burrow. In theory, though, that puts them in the playoff chase all the way to the end.

This is Joe Burrow’s third longterm injury. Looking beyond this season, how should the Bengals feel about their franchise quarterback? What can Cincinnati do to help prevent this from happening again? 

McKenna: To prevent more injuries to their QB, they can keep drafting and investing in their offensive linemen, and – in theory – increase his time to throw. The problem with speeding up Burrow’s TTT (time to throw) is that he was already getting rid of the ball in 2.4 seconds – an absurdly speedy clip, among the fastest in the NFL. So, yeah, let’s focus on that offensive line. As for how they should feel about Burrow? He’s one of the best four quarterbacks in the NFL. They have to feel lucky to have him, even if they don’t act that way – avoiding investing in making this team truly great.

Joe Burrow missed seven games with a wrist injury in 2023. (Photo by Courtney Culbreath/Getty Images)

Williams: The Bengals need to take a holistic, comprehensive look at how they handled their training program with the number of injuries their best player has experienced since he’s been with the organization. Along with that, Cincinnati must do better to invest in offensive linemen to better protect Burrow, along with creating an offensive system that keeps him out of harm’s way more often. The Bengals ran the ball 40 times through two games, No. 26 in the league, and averaged just 2.4 yards per carry. Better balance on offense would create fewer opportunities for Burrow to drop back and get hit by the pass rush. 

Vacchiano: There’s probably nothing they can do. They can spend more on their offensive line, so maybe Burrow doesn’t get hit as much (he was sacked 48 times last year). But lots of guys get hit a lot and not all of them get hurt. There’s a flukey nature to some of these injuries, and Burrow might just be “injury prone.” The best thing they can do? Be prepared. Get the best backup money can buy. If they think that’s Jake Browning, then fine. They probably can do better, though. And it wouldn’t hurt to have a strong third-stringer either, just in case.

Before joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.

Eric D. Williams has reported on the NFL for more than a decade, covering the Los Angeles Rams for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Chargers for ESPN and the Seattle Seahawks for the Tacoma News Tribune. Follow him on X at @eric_d_williams.

Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.

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