When Jake Browning finished sixth in the Heisman voting as a member of the Washington Huskies back in 2016, most figured that the quarterback had a bright future in the NFL.
Unfortunately, Browning struggled in his final two college seasons and ultimately went undrafted in the 2019 NFL Draft.
Fast forward five years, and Browning is on center stage as the Cincinnati Bengals’ starting quarterback following the season-ending injury to star signal caller Joe Burrow.
Prior to Monday night against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Browning had thrown all of 41 regular-season passes since entering the NFL in 2019. He had spent time with the Minnesota Vikings’ practice squad (2019-21) and on the Bengals’ active roster since 2021.
No one could have envisioned what Browning had in store for the masses against an 8-3 Jaguars team on the road Monday night.
The journeyman completed 19 of his first 21 passes for 261 yards, including a 76-yard touchdown pass to Ja’Marr Chase.
Five years in the NFL with 41 passes, and Browning was out there throwing dimes on national television in what ended up being a 34-31 win over Jacksonville in overtime.
It adds yet another layer to surprising quarterback play we’ve seen from unknown players at this position during a 2023 season in which injuries have been the name of the game. But Browning himself took this to another level with a history-making outing.
- Jake Browning stats (Week 13): 32-of-37 passing, 354 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT
Browning’s 87% completion it the highest ever for an NFL quarterback making his first or second career start. To say this was shocking would be an understatement.
For the Bengals, they had a ton of confidence that Browning could take over for Burrow and run the Bengals’ offense. It is why head coach Zac Taylor and Co. pushed back against bringing in competition for the QB1 job in Cincinnati.
“I told him this is just the first chapter. Has a chance to watch it and rebound. We have all the confidence in the world in Jake,” Taylor said of Jake Browning ahead of Week 13.
Jake Browning proves naysayers wrong after being given a chance
Browning threw his first regular-season pass in the NFL back in Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns. He then replaced an injured Burrow back in mid-November against the Baltimore Ravens, completing 8-of-14 passes for 68 yards with a touchdown in a loss.
Browning’s first start came last week in a 16-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was not great, completing 19-of-26 passes for 227 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
For the 27-year-old signal caller, it’s all about a learning experience during games after being inactive for pretty much the past half-decade since his days with Washington.
“When you’re sitting in the quarterback room, you’re kind of like: ‘Hey, do you like this or this more? Do you like this or this more?’ And you kind of think that you know,” Jake Browning said after his first NFL start. “But then once you’re in a game and you have that experience and you have your notes from that, ‘I feel more comfortable with this.’ Versus last week it’s like: ‘I don’t know. Call what you think is gonna work and we’ll roll with that.’ As we continue to get more games around the plan, the offense will kind of morph into whatever we’re doing well.”
He certainly did his part in helping Cincinnati even its record at 6-6 and remain very much alive in the AFC Playoff race. What an extraordinary second start it was from the Washington product Monday night.