It appears that the Cincinnati Bengals have officially pulled the plug on QB Joe Burrow’s season.
According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Bengals have officially placed Burrow on IR and elevated QB AJ McCarron from the practice squad to the active roster for tomorrow’s game at home against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Along with placing Burrow on IR and elevating McCarron, the Bengals welcomed back RB Chase Brown to their active roster after being placed on injured reserve earlier in the season according to the team website.
The Bengals lost much more than last Thursday’s game against the Baltimore Ravens as Burrow injured his wrist during the contest. Burrow was pulled from the game with backup quarterback Jake Browning coming on in relief for the Bengals’ star quarterback. It would later be determined that Burrow would miss the remainder of the season after suffering a torn ligament in his hand, clutching his throwing hand after completing a touchdown pass to RB Joe Mixon.
With Burrow out for the rest of the year, Browning steps into the starting job as a former undrafted free agent out of Washington. To add more depth behind Browning, the Bengals elevated McCarron who started his career in Cincinnati after being selected in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. The former Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback played in 11 games with three starts in his four years in Cincinnati, going 2-1 as a starter in 2015 where he completed 64.7% of his passes for 920 yards and six touchdowns to only two interceptions in his time with the Bengals.
After his contract was up in Cincinnati, McCarron spent a season in Oakland and two seasons in Houston, seeing a single start in 2019 for the Texans. He signed with the Atlanta Falcons in 2021 but was placed on season-ending injured reserve after suffering a torn ACL in Week Two of the preseason. McCarron would rehab and get another shot with the St. Louis Battlehawks in the XFL, having a strong season as the team’s starting quarterback. He ended up signing back with Cincinnati back on September 23, joining the practice squad as an experienced veteran quarterback.
Brown had been on the Reserve/Injured list since October 28 with a hamstring injury. He had been designated for return from Reserve/Injured and cleared to practice earlier this week, working back to be cleared to return prior to facing the Steelers. Brown has seen action in five games this season, having two carries for six yards while having caught all three of his targets for seven yards on eight total offensive snaps played this season.
