The Buccaneers are bringing in a new backup quarterback.
Per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Jake Browning plans to sign with Tampa Bay on a one-year deal.
Browning, 29, had been with Cincinnati since 2021. His longest starting stint came in 2023 after Joe Burrow suffered a significant wrist injury. That season, Browning completed 70.4 percent of his passes for 1,936 yards with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions, leading the Bengals to a 4-3 record in his seven starts.
Things did not go as well for Browning in 2025 after another Burrow injury, as he completed 64.8 percent of his passes for 771 yards with six touchdowns and eight interceptions, going 0-3 in his three starts. The Bengals traded for Joe Flacco, who started the rest of the way until Burrow returned.
Browning entered the league as an undrafted free agent with the Vikings in 2019, sticking with the team through 2021.
He’ll now head down to Florida to back up Baker Mayfield.
Maxx Crosby won’t be joining the Ravens, but Trey Hendrickson is on his way to Baltimore.
According to multiple reports, Hendrickson has agreed to sign with the Ravens. It is reportedly a four-year, $112 million pact for Hendrickson, who will be switching sides in the AFC North from the Bengals to the Ravens.
The timing of the move will likely lead to questions about whether the Ravens’ decision to call off the Crosby trade was really based on an examination of his surgically repaired knee or if the team decided they preferred to have Hendrickson and the two first-round picks they had agreed to send to Las Vegas.
Whatever the answer to that question, the Ravens have now landed a top-tier pass rusher to bolster their defense and they will have those picks — including No. 14 this year — to use to add more talent to the roster.
The biggest news of Tuesday night was that the Ravens have backed out of trading for Maxx Crosby and Wednesday’s major headlines is expected to include news on another top-flight pass rusher.
According to multiple reports, expectation around the league is that Trey Hendrickson will be making his decision about his next team on Wednesday. The Crosby trade falling apart could factor into that choice.
Dianna Russini of TheAthletic.com reports that the Ravens have joined the Eagles and Colts in the mix for Hendrickson’s services. Albert Breer of SI.com adds the Cowboys to the list of teams keeping tabs on where things stand with Hendrickson and notes that the Ravens making a big push for Hendrickson would “bolster suspicions some teams have” that the Crosby decision was not solely based on the state of his surgically repaired knee.
Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reported this week that there was a gap of around $10 million per year between what Hendrickson was looking for and the offers he was receiving since the negotiating window opened on Monday. The Crosby news may have helped close that gap by increasing the competition for his services and a fuller picture of how things are playing out could come in the near future.
Plenty of veteran quarterbacks are and will be available. The Steelers are sitting at the window, waiting for quarterback Aaron Rodgers to come home.
But as they press a collective nose against the glass, they’re also reportedly “nosing around” the quarterback market.
Mike Garafolo used that term during a Monday appearance on NFL Network in explaining that the Steelers know they need to have a “contingency plan” in place, if Rodgers decides to play for someone else — or to not play at all.
Either way, the clock is ticking. And potential options will be disappearing.
Kirk Cousins. Geno Smith. Joe Flacco. Just to name a few. Will any of them wait to see what Rodgers will do?
The Steelers shouldn’t be waiting. All due respect to the future first-ballot Hall of Famer, but Rodgers is a long way from the guy who won four MVP awards.
Really, who else is pursuing him? Last year, Rodgers was the Plan B if Matthew Stafford left the Rams. That’s it.
This year, the Cardinals make sense, but for the fact that they can just go ahead and renovate the basement of the NFC West.
Trey Hendrickson wanted free agency. Yesterday, he got it.
The best available free agent on the PFT Top 100 list has yet to get a deal.
The absence of a contract suggests he wants more than the market will bear. If someone was willing to meet his demands, a deal would have been done by now.
The problem for Hendrickson is that teams with cash and cap space to burn have been doing so. Budgets get busted, and there’s less money left for him.
On one hand, it’s still early. On the other hand, the numbers are never going to get better than they would have been on the first day.
A multi-year deal remains possible. Multiple teams may have something on the table, waiting for Hendrickson to take it. At some point, those teams may move on to other options. At some point, Hendrickson may have to take a one-year deal for the best possible number and hope to do it again next year — ideally with a no-tag clause in the deal.
Regardless, it’s a much different vibe from the last time Hendrickson became a free agent. Five years ago, the former Saint agreed to terms on a four-year, $60 million deal with the Bengals on the first day of the negotiating period.
The Titans continued a busy Monday by adding another piece for their offensive line.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that they have agreed to terms on a contract with guard Cordell Volson. It is a one-year deal a 1-year deal with and a maximum value of $4.215 million and $2.5 million in guaranteed money.
Volson was a 2022 fourth-round pick by the Bengals and he has spent his entire career in Cincinnati. He started 48 games in his first three seasons, but missed all of 2025 with a shoulder injury.
The Titans also agreed to terms with center Austin Schlottman on Monday. Guard Kevin Zeitler and center Corey Levin are among last year’s Titans linemen set for free agency.
The Saints are adding a tight end for quarterback Tyler Shough to throw to in 2026.
NFL Media reports that Noah Fant has agreed to terms with the team. It’s a two-year deal for Fant in New Orleans with no financial terms reported.
The Saints have Juwan Johnson coming back as their top tight end, but Foster Moreau and Taysom Hill are both set for free agency.
Fant had 34 catches for 288 yards and three touchdowns with the Bengals last season. He spent three seasons with the Seahawks and three with the Broncos before heading to Cincinnati as a free agent last offseason. He has 334 catches for 3,593 yards and 18 touchdowns for his career.
The Seahawks are set to lose another member of their Super Bowl LX roster.
Edge rusher Boye Mafe’s agent Mike McCartney announced that his client has agreed to a three-year deal with the Bengals. Running back Kenneth Walker and safety Coby Bryant have also agreed to deals with other teams on Monday while cornerback Josh Jobe agreed to re-sign with the team.
Per multiple reports, Mafe’s deal is worth $60 million.
Mafe appeared in 65 regular season games and four playoff contests since joining the Seahawks as a 2022 fourth-round pick. He had 164 tackles, 20 sacks, three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries in the regular season and he had seven playoff tackles. Five of those came during the team’s run to the Super Bowl title earlier this year.
The Bengals saw Joseph Ossai agree to sign with the Jets on Monday and Trey Hendrickson is expected to move on, so Mafe will be part of a new look on the edge of the Cincinnati defense.
Another player in the Chiefs’ secondary is about to leave Kansas City.
The Bengals are expecting to sign former Chiefs safety Bryan Cook, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network.
The team and Cook’s agents have agreed on a three-year, $40.25 million deal.
Cook has started all 17 games for the Chiefs each of the last two seasons. His departure comes after two Chiefs cornerbacks, Trent McDuffie and Jaylen Watson, both landed with the Rams. The Chiefs’ secondary will look a lot different in 2026.
The Bengals desperately needed to bolster their defense, and with Cook they think they’ve done it.
The Jets have agreed to make a couple of additions to their defensive line early in free agency.
Defensive ends Joseph Ossai and Kingsley Enagbare have both agreed to deals with the team. According to multiple reports, Ossai has agreed to a three-year, $36 million deal with the team and Enagbare has agreed to sign a one-year, $10 million pact.
Ossai was a 2021 third-round pick in Cincinnati and he had 14.5 sacks while playing a rotational role with the Bengals over the last four seasons. He also had 116 tackles, 44 quarterback hits, four forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries.
Enagbare was a 2022 fifth-round pick and he appeared in every Packers game during his four years in Green Bay. He had 146 tackles, 11.5 sacks, 31 quarterback hits, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.
The Jets also agreed to trade for veteran safety Minkah Fitzpatrick on Monday as they work to remake one of the league’s worst defenses.
