The Cincinnati Bengals understand the value of a reliable backup quarterback better than most teams. Their 2025 season ended up revolving largely around backups like Jake Browning and Joe Flacco after Joe Burrow went down with an injury. That experience likely shaped their thinking with free agency underway, and Josh Johnson fits the bill. He has been around the league long enough to be part of a trivia quiz at Bengals tailgates.

He is reliable, too. After playing for 14 NFL teams since 2008, he is back in Cincinnati to help the team for one season. That will give him yet another opportunity to prove himself. This is the same man who, in December, held his head in his hands after the Commanders‘ loss against the Cowboys. He constantly shuffled at the podium while addressing the media. It was clear that his heart was heavy, feeling the pangs of loss for a game between two losing teams that no one would remember.

Here’s why the Bengals need him: the franchise entered the offseason knowing it needed to add two reserve quarterbacks. Meanwhile, Flacco, who was brought in via trade to start after Burrow went down with an injury, is still on the open market. After what turned into a fairly productive stretch with Cincinnati, Flacco said at the end of the season that he hopes to land a starting job somewhere in 2026, but so far, he remains unsigned. Then, there is Browning, who signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as an unrestricted free agent. So, Johnson fits their depth needs.

Throughout his career, he featured in 50 games and started 11. He has a QB record of 2-9, while this doesn’t seem very encouraging, he comes with tons of veteran experience. He will likely serve as Burrow’s backup next season for the Bengals, his third stint with the team. Sean Clifford is the only other quarterback on the team’s roster. However, there is no one better than Johnson who understands what it means to be a backup.

In 2020, he revealed how being a backup quarterback meant being under the same amount of pressure as anyone else. After all, a backup would be expected to enter the field at any point in time and produce at a higher level, without the same amount of reps.

“No excuses, no explanations – go get it done,” he explained back then. “As a backup quarterback, it’s all mental. Physically, you’re going to cool off. I’ve got little drills that I do to keep myself physically warm. It’s a mental grind, though. You can’t let your mind wander for three hours.”

He presents a solid veteran option behind Burrow, who missed a large portion of the 2025 season because of turf toe. Johnson brings more than a decade of NFL experience to the role. While he spent the 2025 season in Washington, the 2026 season will bring him back to Cincinnati. His history with the Bengals actually goes back to the 2013 season, when he appeared in two games for the team. He later returned to Cincinnati in 2015, although he did not see any playing time that year.

Beyond familiarity with the organization and his long résumé in the league, the Bengals were also looking for a very specific mindset in their backup quarterback. Offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher explained what the team values in that role.

“When you’re looking for a backup quarterback, which is what we’re looking for, you want a great player,” Pitcher said in February. “The same traits that make a starting quarterback a good player are going to be the traits that make a backup quarterback a good player. But the backup quarterback is a unique job, and an understanding of what that is important.

“Because you have to have a guy that’s very intrinsically motivated, somebody that can just go to work and do the work day in and day out because they know it’s the right thing to do, and because they can get themselves to a place mentally where ‘I might have to play at any given moment, but I also may not play all year.’ And that’s different from any other position in the building.”

Whether Johnson can fully match the expectations Pitcher described will only become clear with time. But for now, one thing is certain. The Bengals have found their backup quarterback behind Joe Burrow after moving on from the previous option.

The Bengals chose not to retain Jake Browning

Heading into free agency, Jake Browning was a restricted free agent, which gave the Bengals the option to retain their backup quarterback. However, the franchise chose not to place a tender on him, allowing Browning to become an unrestricted free agent.

Originally an undrafted free agent in 2019, Browning eventually joined the Bengals ahead of the 2021 season. Since then, he has been serving as Joe Burrow’s primary backup. Over the last three seasons, Browning started 10 games. He went 4-3 as a starter in 2023 but finished 0-3 in his three starts during the 2025 season.

For a broader context, Browning has completed 68.5 percent of his passes in the NFL for 2,707 yards with 18 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. One of his busiest stretches came last season when Burrow went down with a turf toe injury in Week 2 against the Jacksonville Jaguars.

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Stepping in for Burrow, Browning completed 21 of 32 passes for 241 yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions, helping lead the Bengals to a 31-27 comeback win. He kept the starting job for the next few games but went 0-3 during that stretch, which eventually led the Bengals to turn to Joe Flacco.

Now that Cincinnati chose not to bring him back, Browning has moved on. The quarterback has signed with the Buccaneers on a one-year deal, where he is expected to serve as Baker Mayfield’s backup. But things don’t end here. While Flacco was happy to bid goodbye to Cincinnati, he is running out of landing spots. The Dolphins, Falcons, Jets, Vikings, and Raiders have all chosen quarterbacks this offseason.

While the Browns and Steelers are still looking for a signal-caller, the Bengals could possibly end up retaining Flacco if no team takes him.