5 Former Bengals hoping to advance this weekend
By Glenn Adams
With the Cincinnati Bengals not in the playoffs, many fans of the men in stripes will spend time rooting against teams rather than for them.
Yet, if you stand on business, as the kids say these days, you love all the players who have worn orange and black over the years. With eight teams still navigating through the wintery slalom course that is the NFL playoffs, there are still four ex-Bengals hoping their team advances.
QB Brandon Allen (49ers)
At the beginning of the season, many Bengals fans called for the team to trade for quarterback Brandon Allen.
When Burrow suffered a calf injury during training camp, Trevor Siemian and Jake Browning did not have stellar preseason performances. Browning won that competition, but on the heels of a camp battle where he just beat out Siemian, many thought the team should call San Francisco to swing a trade for their now third-string QB.
Allen spent the previous three seasons on Cincinnati’s roster. In that time, he threw for 1,096 yards and seven touchdowns while completing 61.5% of his passes.
Despite being behind Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold all year, the 49ers never risked exposing the veteran QB to possibly being picked up by another team to get him into the practice squad. There is little doubt that the Bengals would have been at the top of that list.
Despite some fans clamoring for a trade for Allen, it never materialized, leaving us with the ultimate Jake Browning experience that was incredibly entertaining.
Allen is still in the playoffs and doing what he can to help his new team advance when the 49ers take on the Green Bay Packers.