The Cincinnati Bengals will be without star quarterback Joe Burrow for at least three months. He suffered a severe enough turf toe injury that it required surgery.
After suffering the injury in Week 2, backup quarterback Jake Browning took over under center and led the Bengals to a Week 2 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. The Bengals have confidence in Browning moving forward, but wanted to add to their depth at the position. As a result, Cincinnati signed both Sean Clifford and Mike White to the practice squad.
So as of today, Cincinnati now has two new QBs on its practice squad: Sean Clifford and Mike White.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) September 16, 2025
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Here is a look at the Bengals quarterback depth chart after signing Clifford and White.
Bengals QB depth chart
Position Player
1 Joe Burrow -- OUT
2 Jake Browning
3 Brett Rypien
4 Sean Clifford/Mike White (PS)
Joe Burrow
Burrow's NFL career has been filled with bad injuries. He tore his ACL in his rookie season, and has had a dislocated finger, MCL sprain, calf sprain, torn wrist ligament and turf toe in the five years since. When healthy, Burrow is one of the best quarterbacks in the league. When he isn't, Cincinnati is left scrambling with pressure mounting on its defense and offensive role players to help the backup out as much as possible.
MORE JOE BURROW NEWS:
Jake Browning
Browning spent his college career playing for Washington from 2015-2018. He went undrafted in the 2019 NFL Draft and spent the first two years of his career on the Vikings' practice squad. Browning signed with the Bengals after being waived in 2021, and has been with the team since.
He has played in 13 games with Cincinnati with most of them coming in 2023 when Burrow tore his wrist ligament. Overall, Browning has thrown for 2,177 yards with 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He has a 6-6 record as a starter for the Bengals, and will be trusted to take over for Burrow moving forward.
Brett Rypien
The Bengals, like many teams, only carry two quarterbacks on their main roster. Given the league's rules about emergency quarterbacks, most teams have a third quarterback that they stash on the practice squad and then label as the emergency quarterback for games. In 2025, that is Brett Rypien for Cincinnati. The 29-year-old Rypien has been in the league since 2019. He's bounced around the league, and in his first season with the Bengals.
Despite Clifford and White being new to the team, Rypien is still ahead of them on the depth chart as he has been on the team longer.
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Sean Clifford/Mike White
With Burrow's injury news, the Bengals signed veteran quarterbacks Sean Clifford and Mike White to their practice squad. Clifford was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round in 2023, and he spent the last two years as part of the Packers' organization but only played in two games.
White has more NFL experience than Clifford. After being drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in 2018, White joined the New York Jets in 2019 and spent four years with the team, which included stints as a backup and spot-starter in 2021 and 2022. White's first NFL start for New York came against the Bengals, and he produced over 400 yards passing in a win.
For the past two years, White served as the backup quarterback for the Miami Dolphins.