Jake Browning has always been something of a football cyborg, focused on process and preparation dating back to his teenage years. When asked about this, specifically, on Wednesday afternoon, he does not laugh at the notion. He embraces it because it’s him.
At Folsom High School (Folsom, Calif.), Browning became so deeply immersed in football that he never seriously considered playing at the college level. Then, programs began to offer scholarships. In four illustrious seasons as a Washington Husky, he never considered the NFL too deeply, not until the 2019 draft. He wasn’t selected but did sign with Minnesota, where he spent parts of three seasons on the Vikings’ practice squad before the Bengals signed him to their practice squad in 2021.
“I want to win,” Browning says. “And, honestly, that might have hurt me a little bit.”
Longtime NFL veteran—and former college teammate—Dante Pettis can confirm this assessment. Browning graduated from high school early and sped toward UW’s campus for winter workouts in 2015. Early on, Pettis asked why Browning skipped the best six months or so of high school—prom, senioritis, all that jazz.
“I want to win the job,” Browning told him.
He won it. He won everything. Browning won 39 games with the Huskies, the most in the history of the Pac-12 conference, where there has never been a shortage of superstar quarterbacks. He threw for 12,296 yards and recorded 94 touchdown passes. “He has always had that mentality of, ‘I’m going to do whatever it takes. When there’s an opportunity for me, I’m going to be ready,’” Pettis says.
So much success, so early into his UW tenure, is where Browning believes he missed out on some pivotal development. Coaches tasked him, fairly, with more and more leadership responsibilities. His throwing motion, in contrast, “wasn’t very good,” and that’s per his own evaluation. He controlled what he could, promising that he would never regret anything regarding his preparation. A plan started taking shape. Spectacular resulted.
How that might translate in the NFL took more than four seasons to answer. Spectacular, resulted then, too. But that answer, historic as it was, presented a partial response.
‘Jake is different’
To start, Jordan Palmer must acknowledge the obvious. He is on the phone to discuss Browning. However, the injured superstar Browning replaced the previous weekend, Joe Burrow, is also a client, one of Palmer’s two most prominent, alongside Josh Allen. “I am devastated,” Palmer says.
With backup quarterbacks in general, Palmer says, “very few people are ready for the moment.” Like this moment, when a backup becomes the starter and The Audition begins in earnest. Palmer works with several players who want that specific opportunity, even if they don’t want their teammates to get injured. “The most difficult way to go into a game is when the starting quarterback gets hurt,” he says. For anyone in that situation, he says, psychology and emotional responses can be amplified due to circumstances.
The Audition presents possibilities that might not have existed previously. Play well for a stretch and net a contract with annual values in excess of $60 million. Change career narratives. Change lives. “And I could tell you all about a quarterback—this tall, rocket arm, so good in high school and college, completion percentage, owns the preseason—and, if he’s a backup, and he goes into the situation Jake just went into, I have no idea how he’s going to handle it,” Palmer says, speaking generally. “One-hundred percent of measurables could lead me to believe that this will go well. And it often doesn’t. In most of the cases, it doesn’t. The guy goes in and looks like … a backup.”
Browning is not most backup quarterbacks. That’s critical. “A lot of the best quarterbacks are all-in on no plan,” he says. Not Browning.
“Jake,” Palmer says, “is different.”
They met at the 2023 Pro Bowl in Las Vegas, while Palmer accompanied Burrow. “I didn’t recognize [Browning],” Palmer says. “I thought it was one of [Burrow’s] buddies. I forgot he was still in the league.”
They began working together, connected by Burrow, who remains close with both. Browning spent that offseason preparing to compete with Trevor Siemian for the Bengals’ backup job. He asked Palmer dozens of detailed questions. Each spoke to the same thing: fit. At the end of this conversation, Browning added one more note: He also wanted to discuss a future in coaching during their time together.
“No, no, no,” Palmer responded. “We’re doing this. We’ll circle back to that later.” They needed to focus only on football because Browning had the potential to be an NFL starter.
Other elements of Browning’s top potential as a quarterback revealed themselves that spring. He could throw: easy completions and complex reads; long balls and precise fits into heavy traffic; only, by then, with an enhanced, reconfigured motion that Palmer would improve. And that plan, his masterpiece, gave Browning the best chance of any backup to become a starting NFL quarterback.
Palmer, Browning says, steered him to even-better mechanics, as they made more drastic improvements to his footwork. In Palmer’s everyday football conversations, he found himself bringing Browning up, unsolicited. The perfect example, Palmer says, “Of a guy who’s not 6' 4", who didn’t run [that] fast, or [who] just slipped through the cracks [and] never got a shot. And they go in the game, and it’s like, ‘Nah, this guy’s good. This guy can play.’”
Hence, why Palmer does not lack confidence in Browning, nor in his ability, track record and wherewithal to not only ace Auditions but also become a legitimate starter. The quarterback always considered himself just that, while understanding Burrow is arguably the best pure passer in pro football and a perpetual MVP candidate.
“This is the gap between Carson and Jordan Palmer right here,” Jordan says, referencing his older brother, who threw 294 career touchdown passes to his, no disrespect intended, career tally of … zero. “Jake thinks he’s a starter. He’s confident, without being cocky. And he has a pattern—a pattern of handling all situations well.”
Seven starts still left questions
Browning arrived at Washington in 2015, and it was apparent, from the first practice, just how deep his preparation extended. Many college quarterbacks are given the volume of plays that they can handle. Not Browning. He had, Petersen says, “tons” of ideas. His longtime offensive coordinator, Jonathan Smith, who’s now Michigan State’s head coach, left after Browning’s junior year, the 2017 season. New OC, no problem. Browning’s plan, already taking shape, ensured a seamless transition.
Petersen had never seen anything like Browning’s plan. “Never changed,” the coach says.
At that same Pro Bowl when Browning met the coach who would enhance what already existed, Browning came to his own realization. He saw elite, established quarterbacks, many of whom were working right in front of him. He knew, right then, that he belonged, which left but one problem, albeit a significant one. “I didn’t even know if I was gonna get an opportunity,” Browning says.
Petersen noticed growth in those years when Browning toiled on NFL practice squads. His college coach saw vast improvement in his motion, which increased Browning’s velocity, as well as in precision and command. He saw that despite, Petersen says, how difficult it is to improve that way without live reps in practice, of which Browning snagged very few.
Browning didn’t register an official statistic until 2023, four-plus seasons into his career. He lived that backup life instead. That season marked Browning’s first Audition in Cincinnati. Burrow’s year ended with a wrist injury in Week 11. Enter Browning.
That season, he completed 86.5% of his passes against those Jaguars, setting a league record for the highest all-time single-game completion rate in a quarterback’s first or second career start. He became the first signal-caller in league history to complete at least 85% of his passes and throw for more than 350 yards and rush for at least 20 yards and a score (also against Jacksonville). He completed more than 75% of his attempts over his first four starts, which made him the first quarterback since 1950 to surpass 1,000 passing yards in their first four starts with at least that level of precision, while, most importantly, leading three game-winning drives. It was true. He belonged, but Browning already knew that.
He also understood that seven starts in one NFL season didn’t fully answer any questions, either.
Browning gets a second chance
The Audition, extended version, began on a Sunday in Cincinnati this September. It was Week 2, Bengals vs. Jaguars, with 9:02 remaining in the second quarter. Burrow dropped back and came under immediate pressure. The ensuing sack appeared fairly benign, at least as far as getting wrestled to the ground by a larger human. The subsequent Grade III turf toe diagnosis was anything but benign. Burrow needed surgery, which meant that he would miss at least three months of the season.
Enter Browning. Again. There were mistakes, a trio of interceptions thrown, as might be expected in an emergency situation. But on the Bengals’ first drive of the third quarter, Browning went 4-of-4, guiding the offense downfield, completing a variety of throws, including three completions to Ja’Marr Chase and stamping an exclamation point with a touchdown pass to Mitchell Tinsley that tied the game at 17.
The Bengals fell behind once more. Browning brought them back, again, with an elite throw to Tee Higgins. He dropped back and set quickly on a third down late in the third quarter, knowing where he wanted to go. Looking off Higgins at first, he didn’t hesitate, turning right slightly, then lobbing a beautiful ball between defenders. Higgins caught the pass, turned those defensive backs into bowling pins and swaggered into the end zone.
Some armchair analysts would quibble with the trio of interceptions. They should also account for the circumstances, stakes and, surely, some understandable rust. Browning threw for 241 yards in less than three quarters, which signaled the coaches’ trust in his ability to operate their scheme. He also tossed two touchdown passes and completed 69.9% of his attempts (21-of-32).
In the immediate aftermath of Cincinnati’s comeback victory, such exploits are, “Right in Jake’s wheelhouse,” Petersen says. Not to mention part of an established pattern. “Some people didn’t appreciate [Browning] as much as he should [have been appreciated]. I mean, the guy’s the all-time-winningest quarterback in Pac-12 history. And, in some ways, it still wasn’t good enough [for skeptics]. But that’s Jake. He’s not a guy [to] count out.”
A Week 3 contest at Minnesota marked Browning’s first start since 2023. The Bengals fell further and further behind. One forced first-quarter throw was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Cincinnati never established its run game, which all quarterbacks, backups or otherwise, rely on, finishing with 53 rushing yards on 21 carries.
Browning is the first to admit he didn’t play well. He threw three more picks—good for six in (not even) two games—and accumulated only 140 yards. But context matters, same as always, even if it won’t apply to public opinion or perception. A holding call ended one promising drive early in the second quarter. Not his fault. Same for second-quarter fumbles by Samaje Perine and Chase. Even the interception Browning threw late in the third was deemed by Tony Romo, on the broadcast, as an “exceptional play” by Josh Metellus. “But you gotta protect the football,” Romo added.
No context is meant to excuse an afternoon that Browning himself says “sucked.” The question that matters now isn’t whether he’ll lead the Bengals to comeback victories each week, nor whether so many weeks ahead will present a similar suck-titude. The question that matters falls between the extremes established in Weeks 2 and 3.
That question is: What now?
Browning’s audition continues
As Browning describes his process for the weeks ahead, he refers to “neutral thinking” without explicitly using the term. That mindset is grounded in objectivity—an examination of processes and plays that’s neither too harsh nor too kind, where emotional responses are not factored in. Browning applied this approach to the comeback victory over Jacksonville, despite the trio of picks thrown. He will apply the same approach to one of the worst games of his career, at any level. Either way, Browning understands what went well, what went wrong, and what he must consider to find consistency over the next few months of this season.
Anyone who argues he cannot do that misses or ignores a pivotal point: He already has.
Can we slow down a little here? Browning entered the most difficult calculus that Palmer described for any backup. He did so with a better chance to succeed than most of his counterparts. This never guaranteed success, nor stamped him as a starter. He led both a comeback victory and endured a bludgeoning. Neither will prove determinative.
No one who knows Browning, especially those who know him best, would bet against him. Pettis, who’s currently training in hopes of landing on a roster this season, has played for four different franchises, with, per his quick count during a phone interview, around 12 starting quarterbacks. Browning could play at a level similar to the vast majority, if not all, of them. “I’ve always felt that about Jake,” Pettis says.
Here’s an educated guess at a best-case scenario in Cincinnati: Despite the Bengals’ 2–1 record, the schedule ahead is brutal. They play the Broncos next Monday night. Then, they face the Lions, Packers and Steelers. Say Browning guides Cincy to two wins in that stretch, followed by two additional victories against the Jets and the Bears. The Bengals bye comes next, followed by a three-game stretch—Steelers, Patriots and Ravens—where, say, Cincinnati picks up one more victory. The Bengals are still 5–5 in that scenario, as they travel to Buffalo on Dec. 7 in Week 14. Maybe Burrow is back by then. That’s 85 days after his injury—almost three months. Even then, 10 games into last season, with Burrow starting each contest, those Bengals were 4–6. They still finished 9–8 and had they snuck into the postseason, no team would have wanted to face them.
That’s the point. Games, even lopsided blowouts, are lost by teams, not quarterbacks. They know the positional calculus; so fraught, in fact, that playing quarterback in the NFL forms the basis for a new football movie, Him. The most difficult calculus for any position, in any sport, became fertile ground to mine for, yes, a horror flick. While reality doesn’t feature any supernatural events or fictional storylines, the premise of that position, what it means, and what it takes even to approach greatness, can be, well, horrific in real life.
“Obviously, last week I didn’t play well,” Browning says. Only, this time, there are plenty more weeks ahead.
This is where Browning’s preparation, that plan, his work with Palmer, his body of work dating back to that freshman season at UW, becomes the only thing that matters for him in any near-term scenario. It’s how he got to this point to begin with. It’s how he will sustain what can be sustained in this season of Cincinnati football that began with so much promise. He still has Chase and Higgins. And the Bengals defense, while yielding a combined 752 yards the past two weeks, can’t play that poorly forever. Right?
Maybe. Maybe not. Regardless, The Audition that Browning prepped for and obsessed over is now here. And his status, as a starting-caliber quarterback, remains unanswered.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Jake Browning ‘Thinks He’s a Starter,’ But Now He Has to Prove It.
