With Joe Burrow out, Jake Browning thrust into starter role for rest of season

The Cincinnati Bengals have received devastating news on Friday as quarterback Joe Burrow will miss the remainder of the 2023 season with a torn ligament in his wrist. Burrow entered Thursday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens nursing a wrist injury and played most of the first half before exiting the contest and entering the locker room. Backup Jake Browning took over the rest of the way in what ended up being a 34-20 loss for the Bengals.

With Burrow now done for the year, Browning will now take over as starter for the remainder of the 2023 season. A fifth-year veteran out of Washington, Browning spent his first four seasons on the Vikings and Bengals practice squads before winning the backup job during this year’s preseason. He actually completed his first career NFL pass in Thursday night’s game against the Ravens, going 8-14 for 68 yards and a touchdown in the loss.

With Browning now the starter, the Bengals’ offense may be simplified to work around the limitations of the new QB. Less explosive plays means that the fantasy value of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins may take a hit as they’ll be nickel and diming it down the field. Meanwhile, running back Joe Mixon may become the centerpiece of the offense as he’ll be in line to receive a bigger workload moving forward.