Washington football's all-time passing leader signs with new NFL team

Washington’s career passing leader has landed a new NFL opportunity.

Jake Browning lost the backup quarterback job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels this preseason and reportedly declined an opportunity to return to the Buccaneers’ practice squad to pursue other chances at continuing his NFL career (Browning would currently be the Buccaneers’ backup behind Daniels, who has started the last two games for Tampa Bay with Baker Mayfield out with a thumb injury). On Tuesday, that chance came knocking, as Browning reportedly signed with the Los Angeles Chargers after a successful tryout.

Browning will likely be signed to the practice squad as an emergency option behind Chargers quarterbacks Justin Herbert and DJ Uiagalelei. Los Angeles’ usual backup, former first-round pick Trey Lance, landed on injured reserve on Saturday with a groin injury, which pulled Uiagalelei up from the practice squad. Browning appears to have beaten out another former Buccaneers quarterback, former second-round selection Kyle Trask, in the tryout, as both were listed as working out for the Chargers alongside five wide receivers.

The Chargers have gotten off to a frustrating start, sitting at 0-5 despite offseason excitement surrounding the hire of former Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator to pair with Herbert. The marriage has been a disaster thus far, as Herbert has thrown more interceptions than touchdowns and Los Angeles ranks dead last in offensive EPA/play through five games.

Herbert has also begun to take some hard hits with a number of offensive linemen missing. Left tackle Rashawn Slater, left guard Trey Pipkins III, and center Tyler Biadasz are all on injured reserve, and right tackle Joe Alt left LA’s Week 4 game with a neck injury and did not play last week. Herbert took one big shot to the ribs and another to the knee against the Seattle Seahawks in that Week 4 game and took an awkward shot that left him limping this week against the Denver Broncos.

Uiagalelei, whose cousin Ta’ita’i started all 13 games for the Huskies last season and is on Washington’s roster this year despite having a preliminary injunction for a fifth season of eligibility overturned, has never seen NFL action after being signed by the Chargers as an undrafted free agent in 2025. Browning, on the other hand, has started 10 games across three seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals with a record of 4-6 while throwing for 2,707 yards, 18 touchdowns, and 15 interceptions.

An interesting oddity will be what jersey number is allocated to Browning. The only available jersey numbers between 0 and 19 are currently 14, 17, 18, and 19. 14 is retired for quarterback Dan Fouts, 18 is retired for wide receiver Charlie Joiner, 19 is retired for wide receiver Lance Alworth, and 17 has not been allocated to a Chargers player since quarterback Philip Rivers retired. The likeliest outcome may be that Browning shares Lance’s No. 5 while he is on injured reserve.

This article originally appeared on Huskies Wire: Washington football’s all-time passing leader signs with new NFL team