There are a lot of memes going around making fun of the Browns' quarterback room. A couple of mid-round rookies, a former first-round bust, and Deshaun Watson (who won't be playing this year). But let's not underestimate Old Man Joe Flacco.
Yes, he's 40 years old. He's played with three teams the last three seasons. He obviously isn't the answer for the Browns past this year, and they'll be desperately hoping one of their youngsters steps up and looks like a candidate to start for them in 2026.
But in 2025, it should be Flacco. And that might be OK. Browns receivers like Jerry Jeudy, Cedric Tillman and David Njoku might be just fine.
Flacco as a journeyman backup the last four years has started 16 games -- almost exactly a season's worth of football. Add his numbers in those years together and stack them up against all of last season's quarterbacks, and he would have been a top-10 player at the position. Seriously!
2024's QUARTERBACKS, PLUS JOE FLACCO ('21-'24) | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | GS | Pass | TD | Int | Run | TD | Pts | Rk |
Lamar Jackson | 17 | 4172 | 41 | 4 | 915 | 4 | 490.1 | 1 |
Joe Burrow | 17 | 4918 | 43 | 9 | 201 | 2 | 450.0 | 2 |
Baker Mayfield | 17 | 4500 | 41 | 16 | 378 | 3 | 446.8 | 3 |
Josh Allen | 17 | 3731 | 28 | 6 | 531 | 12 | 432.4 | 4 |
Jayden Daniels | 17 | 3568 | 25 | 9 | 891 | 6 | 409.5 | 5 |
Jared Goff | 17 | 4629 | 37 | 12 | 56 | 0 | 394.8 | 6 |
Sam Darnold | 17 | 4319 | 35 | 12 | 212 | 1 | 383.2 | 7 |
Bo Nix | 17 | 3775 | 29 | 12 | 430 | 4 | 379.0 | 8 |
Kyler Murray | 17 | 3851 | 21 | 11 | 572 | 5 | 374.0 | 9 |
Joe Flacco '21-24 | 16 | 4766 | 33 | 18 | 37 | 0 | 374.0 | 10 |
Jalen Hurts | 15 | 2903 | 18 | 5 | 630 | 14 | 364.2 | 11 |
Patrick Mahomes | 16 | 3928 | 26 | 11 | 307 | 2 | 344.3 | 12 |
Geno Smith | 17 | 4320 | 21 | 15 | 272 | 2 | 339.2 | 13 |
Brock Purdy | 15 | 3864 | 20 | 12 | 323 | 5 | 335.5 | 14 |
Justin Herbert | 17 | 3870 | 23 | 3 | 306 | 2 | 334.1 | 15 |
Aaron Rodgers | 17 | 3897 | 28 | 11 | 107 | 0 | 321.6 | 16 |
Caleb Williams | 17 | 3541 | 20 | 6 | 489 | 0 | 312.0 | 17 |
Jordan Love | 15 | 3389 | 25 | 11 | 83 | 1 | 289.8 | 18 |
C.J. Stroud | 17 | 3727 | 20 | 12 | 233 | 0 | 289.7 | 19 |
Matthew Stafford | 16 | 3762 | 20 | 8 | 41 | 0 | 272.2 | 20 |
Now Flacco's not going to throw for 4,766 yards this season, as he has across those four years worth of starts. Nor will he throw 33 touchdowns. Please do not draft him expecting a top-10 or 12 quarterback. He won't be running, at all, if he knows what's good for him.
But above-average passing numbers are very possible, and that makes Jeudy et al look fine for as long as he's in the lineup. Which given the other options available, might very well be all season.
--Andy Richardson