Three Candidates to Replace Injured Joe Burrow in Cincinnati
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- Category: NFL
- Created: Tuesday, 23 September 2025 15:26
Dread swept through Paycor Stadium in a moment in week two of the 2025 NFL season. As Cincinnati ground out a gritty victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars to take their start to 2-0, Joe Burrow—the city’s hope, its heartbeat—was in the medical room after suffering yet another cruel twist of fate. The former Heisman Trophy winner was downed by an innocuous tackle in the second quarter, with x-rays showing that Joey B had suffered a turf toe injury that required surgery and will put him on the shelf for at least the next three months.
For Bengals fans, déjà vu, only sharper. Heading into the 2025 season, the bookies' online football odds made Cincy a dark horse for Super Bowl glory. Now, the latest Bovada football odds make them a distant outsider, pricing them as long as +6500. To put that into perspective, the likes of the Arizona Cardinals and the Indianapolis Colts are both considered more likely Lombardi winners.
There is hope, however, that Burrow, mercifully, is not lost for the season. He is expected to return in three months' time, and should that ultimately come to fruition, then the Cincinnati faithful will wake up and treat every December day as Christmas morning. If the Bengals can weather the storm and keep themselves in the hunt, No. 9 could return to engineer yet another improbable run.
But if the Cincy's post-Thanksgiving horizon is to sparkle with anything other than regret, the answer at quarterback can’t just be serviceable. It must be inspired—decisive. Three paths branch from here, each a gamble that carries the weight of a city starving for triumph.
Jake Browning
For all the fanfare swirling around potential trades or signings, sometimes the answer has already walked the walk. Jake Browning, undrafted, unheralded, and quietly unflappable, is why Cincinnati managed to stay relevant down the stretch in 2023.
He went 4-3 as a starter the last time Burrow was crocked, building a league-best 70.4% completion rate against a mere five picks in over 240 attempts in the process. It wasn’t just caretaker ball—his command of Zac Taylor’s playbook was evident as he orchestrated complex pre-snap looks, and his 92-yard, game-winning march versus Jacksonville after Burrow was carted off was as poised as anything Bengals fans have seen in recent years.
Jake Browning > Joe Burrow? 👀🎯
— Bovada (@BovadaOfficial) September 14, 2025
Tee Higgins +130 ✅
pic.twitter.com/vD52IUPOu2
Look deeper, and Browning’s strengths become even more stark. His interception rate sits below 2%, and analysts tracked his pass block win rate at an impressive 60%, markedly outperforming Burrow behind the same front. This isn’t magic—it’s mechanics, decision-making, and a rapport with Ja’Marr Chase that could only be described as quietly electric.
Browning doesn’t wow on highlight reels. He simply converts third downs, limits mistakes, and gives his defense a chance. For a team wobbling on the playoff tightrope, that might be enough.
Jameis Winston
But what of boldness? Enter Jameis Winston, the NFL’s ultimate rollercoaster ride. The former number one overall pick is possibly unchained—the only man in league history to have thrown 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in a single season. Dismiss him and you risk ignoring the visible transformation since Tampa: a calmer trigger, a 100.4 passer rating across seven games in his finest season in New Orleans, and—perhaps most encouraging for Bengals brass—a penchant for late-game heroics.
Winston’s reputation as a turnover machine predates his recent discipline, but the context matters. Analysis suggests Cincinnati’s overhauled O-line, which is allowing fewer sacks so far this term, could be the environment Winston needs. The economics are compelling too: a veteran-minimum deal barely dents the Bengals' available cap space, while the Giants will surely be more than willing to allow him to depart MetLife Stadium. They currently have Russell Wilson firing on all cylinders under center, with rookie first-rounder Jaxson Dart backing him up.
In the locker room, Wilson is nothing if not magnetic—teammates gravitate toward his confidence, his joy under adversity, his willingness to take the heat and bounce back. Plus, let's face it, who on god's green earth doesn't want to see the gunslinger firing the ball downfield to Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, arguably the best receiving double act in the league? Those two will be licking their chops at the prospect, and so are we.
Shedeur Sanders
And yet, what if the future could be coaxed into starting now? Shedeur Sanders would not so much fill Burrow’s shoes as chart his own myth. The 2025 fifth-round pick for Cleveland is audaciously gifted—four years, over 14,000 yards, 70% completions, 123 touchdowns, and the kind of deep-ball artistry that gives safeties nightmares. Draft scouts marveled at Sanders’ pocket movement at Colorado; his ability to uncork precision passes even when the world was collapsing around him conjures, dare it be said, hints of Burrow at LSU.
In fact, the reports were so high on Sanders that he was projected to be selected in the first round earlier this year. Shockingly, however, he fell to the fifth round in one of the biggest gobsmackers in recent years. And to make matters worse, he now finds himself third on the Cleveland Browns depth chart, nestled behind the veteran Joe Flacco and fellow rookie Dillon Gabriel.
Why is he so far down on the depth chart? Two words: polish and patience. Sanders can be slow to diagnose blitz packages, and the learning curve from college to pro defenses is as steep as it gets. But a Bengals trade—a second act for an organization always ready to bet on upside—could bring Sanders into the fold for the price of a mid-round pick and a modest rookie contract.
Perhaps Burrow’s latest setback is the pivot point for a franchise yearning for a fresh narrative, for a quarterback who can extend plays when blocking breaks down, and keep defenses honest with his legs (400 rushing yards in his final season). If Burrow’s health woes linger, Sanders gives Cincy an option for both present and, tantalizingly, tomorrow.
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