The worst fears have come true for the Cincinnati Bengals: Joe Burrow is going to miss a substantial amount of time after injuring his toe during the team’s 31-27 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.
Burrow suffered a Grade 3 turf toe injury that’s going to require a surgery that will sideline him for at least three months, CBS Sports NFL insider Jonathan Jones reported on Monday. Despite Burrow’s exit, the Bengals still won the game to improve to 2-0 for the first time since 2018.
Since it’s still early in the season, the Bengals could look to make a trade for a quarterback, but is there anyone out there who would make them a true Super Bowl contender? It’s hard to say, but here are three intriguing names who might be available. Before we get to these names, keep in mind that the Bengals rarely make in-season trades. As a matter of fact, they’ve only made two trades over the past 52 years where they acquired a player once the season had started.
Let’s check out the names.
Cousins was NOT happy when he got benched for Michael Penix Jr. and he hasn’t tried to hide the fact that he wants out of Atlanta so he can go to a spot where he could potentially be the starting quarterback. Cousins does have a no-trade clause, but he would almost certainly waive that for a chance to play for an unbeaten Bengals team that has one of the best receiving tandems in the NFL.
Cousins has 13 years of experience under his belt, so he’s seen it all and he is probably the only guy out there who would be an immediately upgrade over Jake Browning. However, Cousins is coming off a 2024 season where he threw a career-high 16 interceptions and that came after a 2023 season where he missed nine games due to a torn Achilles. His last full season on the field came in 2022 when he threw for 4,547 yards while throwing passes to Justin Jefferson in Minnesota.
The one downside with Cousins is that he won’t be cheap. His base salary this year is $27.5 million, but the Falcons have already paid two weeks of that, so the Bengals would owe him about $24.4 million for the rest of the 2025 season. Cousins also has a fully guaranteed $10 million option bonus due in March. The Bengals could look to trade him after the season before that bonus comes due, but if they weren’t able to, they’d be on the hook for $34.4 million to Cousins.
If the Bengals want a quarterback who has actually been to the Super Bowl before, they could call the Los Angeles Rams about Jimmy Garoppolo. The veteran QB comes with two major upsides: He has plenty of big-game experience and he would also come dirt cheap. He’s on a one-year deal with a base salary of just $1.25 million, so the Bengals could easily let him walk after the 2025 season. The Bengals obviously wouldn’t be looking to make a long-term commitment with anyone, so they’d want to be sure they could easily get out of the contract of any QB they acquire.
Garoppolo only started one game for the Rams last season, but he threw for 334 yards and two touchdowns in a win. In 2019, he led the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl appearance after a season where he threw for 3,978 yards and 27 touchdowns. Due to Matthew Stafford’s health — he dealt with a bad back for most of training camp — the Rams may not be be willing to part with Garoppolo, but he’s certainly one of the best backups out there.
If the Bengals want to replace their No. 1 overall pick with another No. 1 overall pick, they could call the Giants about making a deal for Winston. With three quarterbacks on their roster in Winston, Russell Wilson and Jaxson Dart, the Giants would probably be more open to making a trade than the Rams and Falcons. One upside with Winston is that he’s familiar with the AFC North after spending the 2024 season with the Browns.
Winston started seven games for Cleveland last season and although he went just 2-5, his two wins did come over the Steelers and Ravens. He’s not afraid to sling the ball, which is something that could come in handy when throwing to a Bengals receiving group that includes Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins. Winston once led the NFL in passing yards and that came in 2019 when he threw for 5,109 during his final season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the team that originally drafted him.
Jake Browning took over for Burrow on Sunday and he’s a player that the team has a lot of confidence in. The Bengals backup QB engineered a comeback win over the Jaguars by leading a 92-yard game-winning touchdown drive that ended when he scored from 1-yard out with just 18 seconds left in the game. If the Bengals were to make a trade, the new quarterback would have to quickly learn the new offense. On the other hand, Browning knows the offense well because he’s been with the Bengals since 2023.
The Bengals also know that they can win games with Browning as the starter and that’s because it’s already happened. Back in 2023, Browning went 4-3 while Burrow was out with a wrist injury. Also, Bengals coach Zac Taylor made it clear on Sunday that the Bengals have a lot of confidence in Browning.
“They see Jake work and so they know,” Taylor said of his team. “They know he knows the playbook inside and out. He’s going to be making protection adjustments. He is going to be able to make the right adjustments. … He’s fully capable to go out there and lead it. We’re fortunate we have the best quarterback [Burrow] in the world leading the charge and we’re also very happy we have Jake as the backup.”
If the Bengals go just 8-7 over the final 15 weeks with Browning, that would take them to 10-7, which would almost certainly put them in the playoffs. However, sticking with Browning puts a ceiling on what the they can do this season. With Browning as the starter, they can certainly win games, but it would be hard to view them as a true Super Bowl contender.
If the Bengals do ride with Browning, they’ll likely go out and sign a backup quarterback since there are only two quarterbacks currently on the roster: Browning and Brett Rypien, who was just signed to the practice squad three weeks ago.