Bengals reward QB Browning with 2-year deal

CINCINNATI — Jake Browning‘s reward for a strong 2023 season is a new deal with the Cincinnati Bengals.

The team’s backup quarterback signed a two-year contract with Cincinnati that runs through 2025, the team announced Tuesday. The terms of the deal were not immediately available.

Browning, who entered the league as an undrafted free agent in 2019, is coming off his best season in the NFL. After starting quarterback Joe Burrow suffered a season-ending wrist injury in Week 11 of the 2023 season, Browning stepped in. He started the final seven games and finished the season by completing 70.3% of his passes for 1,936 yards, 12 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.

The former Washington standout had been on the Bengals’ practice squad since 2021. Coming into the 2023 season, Browning won the backup job over Trevor Siemian. Browning was able to steady Cincinnati’s offense after Burrow’s injury and keep the Bengals in the playoff chase until a Week 17 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs eliminated them from postseason contention.

Also Tuesday, Cincinnati solidified its quarterback room by signing Logan Woodside to a one-year contract. Woodside was with the Atlanta Falcons the past two seasons and was previously with the Tennessee Titans from 2020 to 2021.

This is Woodside’s second stint with the Bengals. Cincinnati drafted him with a seventh-round pick in 2018 but waived him before the start of the season.

Both Browning and Woodside are currently slotted behind Burrow on the depth chart. Ahead of this week’s draft, Bengals director of college scouting Mike Potts indicated any potential selections of a quarterback wouldn’t occur until the later rounds.

“We’re fortunate to not be in that market, at least high in the draft,” Potts said.

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