The season-ending injury to franchise quarterback Joe Burrow necessitated the Bengals promoting quarterback Brandon Allen from the practice squad. Allen began his NFL career as a sixth-round draft pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2016 NFL Draft from Arkansas. As a three-year starter with the Razorbacks, Allen is the program leader in touchdown passes and third in passing yards. Allen was 1-2 in three starts in 2019 with the Denver Broncos.
This was the only playing time for Allen in his NFL career. In the three games, Allen completed just 46.4 percent of his passes for 515 yards, and three touchdowns He also threw two interceptions and had an abysmal 68.3 passer rating. This gave him a 35.4 QBR, which is on a 0 to 100 scale, with 50 being average. Finley and Allen are both below average efficient passers.
The Bengals would be wise to search out other veteran quarterbacks on practice rosters to come in and compete with Finley and Allen. This of course, is assuming that they want to win any more games. Head coach Zac Taylor did say on Monday the priority with the Bengals is on winning. If that is the case, inquiring about a veteran quarterback should be the preference for the remainder of the season. It is understandable if Cincinnati wants to see what they have in Allen and Finley and develop them to be quality backups for Burrow in the future.
The move does however make sense to give Allen a shot. Allen was already in Taylor’s system during his two years with the Los Angeles Rams from 2017-2018. Also he did show some flashes of good play in Denver, though it was only flashes. It should be interesting to see if the Bengals want to win, or if they would rather have a chance at a path altering pick in the draft.
Makes sense. Brandon Allen knows Zac Taylor’s offense going back to their days with the #Rams and showed some promise in three starts last season in Denver. https://t.co/Q0JWFt3PXV
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 25, 2020
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