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The tiny bit of certainty in the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback room harkens back 20 months to the time Joe Flacco went from unemployed and throwing at a neighborhood park to setting franchise records for a team he’d previously dominated.
Flacco then was a temporary savior, the architect of a four-game December win streak that pushed the 2023 Browns to the playoffs.
Flacco, now 40, is probably a temporary starter. He’s the wise old man among a crowded quarterback group and a familiar face in a locker room that still has some longtime stalwarts. But a year after the Browns couldn’t bring Flacco back because he’d been too popular and successful and would further muddy the team’s commitment to Deshaun Watson, the veteran is again in the driver’s seat.
The transition from all-in to fully out on Watson is happening, and it’s been as awkward as it feels. But if Browns coach Kevin Stefanski and the team’s decision-makers didn’t think the old guy was their best option, they’d play one of the younger quarterbacks. If the idea was to tank or the prevailing notion was that Flacco would fail, things wouldn’t have gone the way they have.
On Monday, what had been clear for almost three weeks was made official: Flacco is first up in trying to help the Browns recover from what team owner Jimmy Haslam called a “big swing and miss” on their 2022 trade for Watson.
Watson, who’s on the physically unable to perform list with a second torn Achilles tendon, is still under contract through 2026 and on the team’s salary cap through 2029. Flacco is on a one-year deal.
In April’s NFL Draft, the Browns threw a couple of darts at Dillon Gabriel in the third round and Shedeur Sanders in the fifth. Add the swap of third-day draft picks that made Kenny Pickett first in the new quarterback room in March, and it’s clear the Browns have little commitment to anyone at the game’s most important position. Flacco is guaranteed $4 million on a deal that includes the league minimum base salary for a veteran player.
If Flacco still has some magic left in his right arm, the Browns will ride it as far as they can in 2025. But if the team struggles early in its quest to return to respectability, the time to point forward is probably closer to Halloween than next April.
“We all know how that works,” Flacco acknowledged. “I mean, that’s everybody in the league, but it’s not really my job to look at it in that way. My job is just to go out there and play my game kind of like I’ve been doing all training camp and not worrying about all that stuff. Just going out there, playing my game and being the best I can be.”
An 18-year veteran and Super Bowl MVP who’s been on a wildly unpredictable ride since the Baltimore Ravens chose to move on in 2019, Flacco knows how a lot of things go, which is a big reason he’s back as Cleveland’s starter. There’s a locker room and player-coach trust that comes from his 2023 experience.
Joe Flacco earned the trust of Browns coach Kevin Stefanski in his first stint with the Browns in 2023. (Jeff Lange / USA Today via Imagn Images)
If Flacco is still playing in October, he’ll surpass 200 career appearances. The pursuit of making it all work again is what has him feeling a lot younger with the season just around the corner.
“I hope that I’ve shown some people that over the last couple weeks — (people) who have watched the film, and we’ve been out there — I feel as good as I ever have,” Flacco said. “You get tricked a little bit when you’re in a locker room with all these (young) guys. You just kind of assume you’re in your 20s, and you keep telling yourself that, but I really do feel great. My arm feels just as good as ever. My legs feel really good right now to do the things that I’m going to have to do. So, I feel ready to go.”
Forty is the number here. In starting Flacco, who turned 40 in January, the Browns remain on 40 starting quarterbacks since the team’s 1999 return to the league, easily the most by any team during that time. Flacco will soon be a repeat performer for Cleveland, which has had seven passers start over the past two seasons.
Why haven’t the Browns hit No. 41, at least not yet? In part because Pickett got injured on the fourth day of training camp and a real competition never developed. But Flacco was the best on the field this summer. After a bland start to camp, he talked openly about getting better and more comfortable with more reps. That showed in his practice throws and growing rapport with Jerry Jeudy, Cleveland’s undisputed No. 1 wide receiver.
“Just having the opportunity to work throughout camp and grow, we’re understanding each other a lot better,” Jeudy said. “I know how he likes to make certain throws. We get open, and he rewards us.”
Jerry in stride 🤌@jerryjeudy | @JoeFlacco pic.twitter.com/nXTOYIfnnX
— Cleveland Browns (@Browns) August 14, 2025
Flacco had gone golfing with some friends in April and left his phone in his vehicle. He returned to two surprises: that the Browns were interested and that his agent had been trying to get a hold of him to discuss things.
Two weeks before April’s draft, Flacco and the Browns finalized his one-year deal. Four months and two quarterbacks drafted by Cleveland later, Flacco won a four-man (plus an emergency fifth) quarterback competition by being the only one not to miss some training camp time due to injury.
But mostly, Flacco won the job with his performance. He can still fling it, quite obviously. Flacco won out on a team that’s been crying for experience, leadership and good quarterback play.
“Joe earned it,” Stefanski said. “And I understand with the injuries how that may look, (but) that’s really not the case here. Joe performed really well, both in practice, in the joint practices, in the meeting room, you name it. In (the spring), in the walk-throughs, in meetings and out (on the field), what he’s able to bring to the football team (was impressive). He’s earned that role.”
Probably, No. 41 is coming at some point later this season. Nobody’s saying that as of now, of course, but nobody’s running from it, either. And at Flacco’s age, he’s not running from much of anything.
On Sept. 7 against the Cincinnati Bengals, Flacco will become the eighth quarterback 40 or older to become his team’s Week 1 starter. On Sept. 7, 2008, he made his NFL debut — also against the Bengals.
“To get this shot at this stage of my career, I won’t lie — it’s very special,” Flacco said. “But right now, I’m just trying to get better.”
Haslam told reporters early in camp that the Browns have to see the two rookie quarterbacks play this season so they can be evaluated ahead of next year’s draft and that Stefanski knows that. Of all the excitement, uncertainty and headlines produced by the just-completed Browns training camp, that one quote is the most powerful — and probably the most telling — about the state of the franchise.
Nobody knows what’s next. Flacco might put 500 yards on the beleaguered Bengals defense in Week 1. Baltimore might beat the Browns by 30 in Week 2, the day the Ravens plan to celebrate the franchise’s 30th anniversary with its winningest quarterback on the opposite sideline. Maybe neither game will go as predicted. Maybe Flacco can be good enough that the change most expect can be long delayed.
There’s been a consistent theme in Flacco’s public comments this summer: that he’s grateful yet determined to show he can still play. He talked of the late stages of the quarterback battle being “business as usual” while not taking for granted “any opportunity in this league.” He has talked on multiple occasions about the human element of things: keeping improvement ahead of competition, knowing that some moments are bigger than others, and even battling the monotony of summer practice sessions.
In the spring, new Browns offensive coordinator Tommy Rees joked that some of the quarterback meetings get derailed by Flacco telling stories about the good old days. But Flacco has insisted that these are good days, too. He said he has “mellowed on a few things” and even laughed at a team social media video that caught him telling Sanders that, no, he wouldn’t be doing any TikTok dances.
The Browns’ second-oldest player, kicker Dustin Hopkins, will be 35 in October. Running back Dylan Sampson, who lined up behind Flacco first last week in both of the team’s joint practices in Philadelphia, is 20.
“Sometimes we’re laughing together, sometimes you’re chuckling because of whatever they’re thinking as the young guys,” Flacco said. “I would say I’ve had a smile on my face a good portion of the time I’ve been here this spring, so it’s been a lot of fun.”
Over the winding, exhaustive and depressing quarterback history of the new-era Browns, nobody has delivered a better month than Flacco did in December 2023. He became the first quarterback in franchise history to post four consecutive 300-yard passing games during that stretch as Cleveland reached 11 wins, the fan base was energized and Flacco won the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award.
“Joe’s the same guy that he was (in 2023),” Stefanski said. “He’s the same guy every single day. I think that’s one of the things you admire about Joe is how he approaches his business. He’s done a really nice job in camp. He’s also done a really nice job just providing leadership to the quarterback room, to the offense and to the football team.”
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This time around, there will only be a real celebration if it works. Because Cam Ward went No. 1 to the Tennessee Titans, Cleveland started its draft by removing itself from the early quarterback race and traded the No. 2 pick to Jacksonville for a substantial return, most significantly the Jaguars’ first-round pick in 2026.
Around $135 million in remaining salary-cap commitments to Watson (plus potentially other significant dead money attributed to longtime Browns players) will be addressed after the season as part of a full evaluation of not only where the roster stands but also whether a long-term rebuild is the best plan.
Stefanski is betting Flacco can get hot, remain steady when necessary and at least keep the Browns competitive. No one knows how long the old guy might hold up — or might have to. But the Browns believe Flacco can still be the player who has thrown lasers for two decades and delivered in big moments.
In early 2026, the Browns might be back on a quarterback search. Flacco might be back on the golf course without his phone. But maybe Flacco’s second ride in Cleveland can end up being celebrated and extended.
“It’s all about winning in this league,” Flacco said. “If we can do that, then it will all feel pretty special.”
(Top photo: Nick Cammett / Getty Images)