The Green Bay Packers have their attention focused on their playoff matchup with the Chicago Bears on Sunday night. But for teams that didn’t make the playoffs, their first moves of the offseason came when they signed players to future/reserve contracts.
That’s what happened for former Packers quarterback Sean Clifford, who was one of 13 players who signed a futures deal with the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday. While his season didn’t go as planned, the deal at least gives Clifford a solid starting point and an opportunity to stick around and win a job next summer.
Ex-Packers QB Sean Clifford Has Another Opportunity with Bengals
The obvious benefit here is that Clifford has a job early in the 2026 offseason. By being signed to a futures deal, the Bengals retain his rights, and there’s a good chance he could remain on the roster through minicamp and have a chance to battle for a regular-season spot next offseason.
The other part of the equation is where Clifford signed. The Bengals are an interesting destination for a quarterback in Clifford’s position, as Joe Burrow hasn’t been the picture of health in recent seasons. While the starting job is his, he missed nine games during the 2025 season with a severe turf toe injury and was limited to 10 games during the 2023 campaign due to a thumb injury.
Things could also get flipped upside down if Burrow is traded this offseason, but at this point, it’s merely speculation, and Clifford would remain a backup if a blockbuster deal goes down.
With the chance to battle for a job with the potential to play, it sets Clifford up for the biggest offseason of his career. A fifth-round pick by the Packers out of Penn State in the 2023 draft, Clifford appeared in mop-up duty for two games during his rookie season but hasn’t been in an NFL game since. He was cut at the end of training camp in 2024 and has since bounced between the active roster and practice squad before he was waived again last August and signed with the Bengals in September.
Clifford’s resume indicates that nothing, if anything, will be promised if he heads to Cincinnati. But with a job and a good landing spot in his corner, it’s a solid start to the offseason for the former Packers backup.