Getty Brandon Allen will stay with the 49ers for 2024.
Former Cincinnati Bengals backup quarterback Brandon Allen will stay with the San Francisco 49ers for 2024.
Allen agreed to terms with the 49ers, which NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport first reported on Monday. A member of the Bengals from 2020 to 2022, Allen originally joined the 49ers in 2023 and served as the third quarterback.
The Jacksonville Jaguars originally drafted Allen with a sixth-round draft pick in 2016 out of Arkansas. Allen didn’t catch on with the Jaguars followed by the Los Angeles Rams, but got his chance with the Denver Broncos in 2019 followed by the Bengals.
In Denver, Allen had three starts with a 1-2 record amid 515 yards passing and three touchdowns versus two interceptions. Allen improved in Cincinnati as he completed 61.5% of his passes for 1,096 yards and seven touchdowns versus four interceptions when starter Joe Burrow dealt with injuries.
Allen could move up the 49ers depth chart to the No. 2 spot since Sam Darnold left in free agency for the Minnesota Vikings. After a one-year, $1.23 million deal for 2023, Allen could save the 49ers salary cap space amid $7.43 million over the salary cap.
A relatively quick study, Allen said he felt settled into the 49ers offense by early training camp last year. The 49ers have a stacked offense with Pro Bowl talent throughout.
“This system works well for quarterbacks who can just be accurate and play on time,” Allen told NBC Sports Bay Area at camp in 2023.
Bengals Appreciated Brandon Allen’s Presence
Brandon Allen finds @TeeHiggins5 to bring the @Bengals within two. #SeizeTheDEY
📺: #NYGvsCIN on FOX
📱: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: t.co/bEHwkuL043
Similar to the 49ers, Allen made a positive impression in Cincinnati. So much so that Burrow showed up wearing Allen’s jersey for a press conference once in January 2023.
“Oops. Guess I grabbed the wrong one,” Burrow joked. “It’s been that kind of day.”
Cincinnati now has Jake Browning as the backup quarterback, and he stepped up in place of Burrow late in the 2023 season. Browning threw for 1,936 yards and 12 touchdowns versus seven interceptions, but the Bengals came short of the playoffs.
Burrow’s season ended due to a wrist injury in the 10th game of the season, and he had surgery on November 27. The Bengals anticipate Burrow to return in time for organized team activities in the late spring.
“I think middle of May is when I am expecting to kind of be cleared for full contact and everything,” Burrow told ESPN’s Ben Baby on March 3. “Over the next month [to] month and a half, we’ll kind of decide all those things.”
Niners Kept Brandon Allen Instead of Trey Lance
Allen impressed the 49ers enough that he challenged No. 3 pick Trey Lance for the third spot on the depth chart. San Francisco ultimately traded Lance to the Dallas Cowboys before the regular season, and Allen stayed on the final 53-man roster as the 49ers didn’t risk waiving him.
Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio wrote that the “suspicion in some circles” is that Lance would have been fourth string behind Allen. Lance was the Cowboys’ third quarterback for 2023 instead.
“We had pretty good knowledge that we think he would’ve got claimed,” 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan said of Allen in August 2023 via Florio. “If there was a third quarterback out there you could put on your practice squad you felt as good with, then it wouldn’t be an issue. But when he’s going to get claimed and how he feel about him, it was important to keep him.”