Bengals coach Zac Taylor said Monday he has full faith in Jake Browning as the new starter with Joe Burrow out, but the organization would be looking to add to the quarterback room. Practice squad player Brett Rypien previously was the only other option to back up Browning.
Burrow is expected to be out for at least three months due to a turf toe injury that requires surgery.
White spent time with the Buffalo Bills last year, mainly on the practice squad before he was signed to the active roster on Jan. 3, but he was released ahead of this season with final cuts.
A fifth-round pick of the Dallas Cowboys in 2018, White has played in 15 games over the past four seasons with his lone starts coming in 2021 and 2022 with the New York Jets when he went 2-5 and completed 61.4 percent of his passes for 2,247 yards and nine touchdowns with 13 interceptions. He also was with Miami in 2023 and play in one game last season with Buffalo.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Clifford, a product of Cincinnati’s St. Xavier High School, was a fifth-round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers in 2023 out of Penn State but appeared in just two games off the bench and hasn’t attempted a pass in an NFL game. He spent most of his time the past two years on Green Bay’s practice squad but was waived on Aug. 26.
For now, it would seem Rypien will be called upon as Browning’s backup on gamedays. A sixth-year player who originally was a college free agent signee of Denver in 2019, Rypien was signed to the practice squad on Aug. 27 and has played 10 career games with four starts for the Broncos (2020-22) and L.A. Rams (2023).
Rypien completed 98 of 168 passes for 950 yards and four touchdowns with nine interceptions in those appearances. He also spent time on Seattle’s practice squad and the Jets’ active roster in 2023, before joining Minnesota’s practice squad for the entire 2024 campaign.
Taylor said after the initial practice squad was formed that the Bengals had been tracking Rypien for a while.
“Always had a high opinion of (him),” Taylor said. “… He’s a really good fit in our room.”
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