Keeping Brandon Allen as Joe Burrow's backup makes too much sense

Brandon Allen has spent three seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals serving as Joe Burrow's backup and the team needs to extend that to a fourth season. Allen is a free agent this offseason but it just makes all the sense in the world to re-sign him and keep him in the Queen City.

Now I know some Bengals fans might disagree because Allen isn't exactly a top-tier backup but having him around is good for other reasons. First and foremost, Burrow and the organization clearly like the guy. He was re-signed last year for this exact reason.

Secondly, spending three years with the same team means that Allen knows the system well. Signing someone else means that they'll have to learn the playbook and be ready to go should Burrow have to miss time.

Bengals re-signing Brandon Allen would be the logical move

Let's be completely real here -- If anything happens to Joe Burrow and he's forced to miss an extended period of time, the Bengals' chances of winning a Super Bowl decrease drastically. The same would be the case for the Chiefs if they lost Patrick Mahomes or if the Bills lost Josh Allen. It's one of the few downsides of having an elite quarterback.

While Allen isn't someone who's going to step in and light the world on fire, he knows the system and gives the Bengals the best chance to win if Burrow has to miss games. Is he going to be able to make the same throws as Burrow? Will he be able to put on those Houdini-like magic tricks that Burrow does when escaping a defender? No and no.

Keeping Allen around is still smart though because he knows the scheme and can do what is asked of him. If he does have to take over on offense, Zac Taylor and Brian Callahan would adjust the playbook to adjust to Allen's strengths.

While it's fun in the offseason to speculate who the Bengals will sign at each position (that includes at backup quarterback), the best thing for Cincinnati to do here is stick with the same guy they've had as the backup since Burrow got to town in 2020.