The Los Angeles Chargers added veteran quarterback Jake Browning on Tuesday, a move that underscores the precarious state of their quarterback room amid a disastrous 0-5 start.
The signing, first reported by NFL insider Tom Pelissero, comes days after the team placed backup Trey Lance on injured reserve with a groin injury, leaving only Justin Herbert and undrafted rookie DJ Uiagalelei on the active roster.
Multiple reports indicate Browning is expected to join the practice squad rather than immediately claim a spot on the 53-man roster, though he could quickly push for the primary backup role.
Browning, 30, has spent most of his career as a journeyman after entering the league as an undrafted free agent out of Washington with the Minnesota Vikings in 2019.
He bounced between the practice squad and active roster in Minnesota before catching on with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2022.
His breakthrough came in 2023, when he stepped in for the injured Joe Burrow and started seven games, completing roughly 70 percent of his passes for 1,932 yards, 12 touchdowns, and seven interceptions.
The Bengals rewarded him with a multi-year deal as an exclusive-rights free agent, but his performance declined. In 2025 he appeared in five games with three starts, completing 64.8 percent of his throws for 771 yards, six touchdowns, and eight interceptions while going 0-3 as a starter.
Cincinnati declined to tender him as a restricted free agent, and he signed a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the offseason only to lose the backup job to undrafted rookie Jalon Daniels and get cut during final roster decisions.
Across 17 career games and 10 starts, he has thrown for 2,707 yards with 18 touchdowns and 15 interceptions.
The addition arrives at a moment when Herbert has been uncharacteristically ineffective.
Through five games the former first-round pick has completed just 85 of 143 passes for 937 yards, five touchdowns, and seven interceptions, posting a passer rating around 70.
His PFF grade of 41.7 ranks last among qualified quarterbacks, and the Chargers have managed only 16.8 points per game. Turnovers and inefficient decision-making have repeatedly stalled drives, including a pair of giveaways in the fourth quarter of Sunday’s loss to Denver that helped the Broncos rally from a 17-10 deficit.
With Lance sidelined for at least the next several weeks and Uiagalelei possessing almost no regular-season experience, Browning provides a more seasoned emergency option even if he begins on the practice squad.
Whether he ever sees the field remains uncertain, but the move highlights how thin the Chargers’ margin for error has become behind a starter who has yet to deliver a winning performance this season.
