Former Vikings QB Gets 2024 Verdict
He’s not leaving.
Former Vikings QB Gets 2024 Verdict
That’s the word out of Cincinnati for former Minnesota Vikings quarterback Jake Browning, who took over as QB1 in 2023 when Joe Burrow was lost for the season.
Browning will stay with the Bengals, as Cincinnati’s primary account on X tweeted Tuesday, “We have re-signed exclusive rights QB Jake Browning to a two-year contract through the 2025 season.”
On Browning’s watch in 2023, the Bengals fired up a 4-3 record, while the ex-Viking accounted for a 12-touchdown to 7-interception passing split, with 215 passing yards per game. At times, the NFL community salivated over Browning’s performance, even if it peetered down the stretch of the season. He was particularly effective late in a Week 15 game when Cincinnati chipped off Minnesota at Paycor Stadium. His hero ball worked that afternoon.
Browning joined the Vikings in April 2019 via undrafted free agency and remained with the club for two and half years, mostly on the practice squad. At Washington in college, he performed admirably, even diming 43 touchdowns to just 9 picks in the 2016 campaign.
During his Viking stint, Browning battled for the “other” quarterback spot, usually at QB3 or QB4, with some assortment of Sean Mannion, Kyle Sloter, and Kellen Mond. In fact, Kirk Cousins and Kellen Mond fell ill with the coronavirus in the summer of 2021, and Browning took the reins of the Vikings offense in a night scrimmage at training camp and turned heads. Some even believed he played well enough to secure a QB2 job, but later, the aforementioned Mannion swooped in for the gig. Browning was waived soon after.
Cincinnati signed Browning a week after his Vikings exodus, where he predominantly lived on the practice squad until last season. And after 2023, he’s considered one of the NFL’s top QB2s.
Browning made headlines in December when his team defeated the Vikings, and in a bizarre twist of events, he raged at a camera, insisting Minnesota shouldn’t have released him a couple of years prior. “Should have never f–king cut me,” Browning yelled at a Paycor Stadium cameraman.
The folks who Browning bemoaned — Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer — didn’t work for the Vikings in 2023, so the man was just screaming at nobody in particular. Browning evidently used the Vikings to symbolize his wrath because the culprits had zero affiliation with the club.
Bengals fans will hope Burrow remains upright and healthy, but if he gets injured, it’ll once again be the Browning experience.
Browning turned 28 earlier this month.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ Basset Hounds, and The Doors (the band).
All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.
You must be logged in to post a comment.