Joe Flacco is excited about completing the unfinished business with the Browns he left behind in 2023.
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Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
The fan adulation was unique and special to Joe Flacco.
The Kevin Stefanski offense fits him like a glove.
But a motivator, also, in Flacco returning to the Browns two years after he set the town ablaze with a five-game run to the playoffs, was the unfinished business left behind. His two Pick 6’s in his last game, a 45-14 wild-card playoff loss to Houston, has stayed with him.
“Yeah, listen, part of the excitement about coming back is the opportunity to kind of, hopefully, put a stamp on what happened a couple years ago and finish what we started,” Flacco said on The Really Big Show on 850 ESPN Cleveland Wednesday in his first comments since re-signing with the Browns.
“It was an exciting time period, and I think that's probably what you think of first. But when you lose playoff games, those are things that stick in your mind, and they're things that you want to get another opportunity to kind of come back and get a redo of. You're not promised that, and very often you don't get that opportunity, but it'll be nice to kind of play for the chance.”
Flacco signed a one-year contract on April 11 for $3 million guaranteed. He can earn another $5 million in incentives if the Browns make the playoffs with him as the starting quarterback.
Flacco will compete with Kenny Pickett for the Browns’ starting quarterback job as the team turns the page on the Deshaun Watson era.
Watson likely will begin the season on the PUP (physically unable to perform) list after two surgeries to repair a torn, and re-torn, right Achilles tendon. A rookie QB will be added, but will not be rushed to play immediately.
At the age of 40 and embarking on his 18th NFL campaign, Flacco is not conceding anything to Pickett, who is 26 and entering his fourth NFL season, first with the Browns after being acquired in trade from the Eagles.
“I don't think there's any expectation of exactly who's going to be the starting quarterback,” Flacco said. “I'm excited to get in that room and go show that I have, you know, a lot of football ahead of me and kind of become part of the team and do my best to prove all those things, just like you always would when you kind of come into a new situation and want to be the guy.”
Flacco was not invited back to the Browns in 2024 because they didn’t want to polarize the locker room and fan base in what they thought would be Watson’s break-out year with the team. Flacco signed with Indianapolis and went 2-4 as a starter as the Colts sought to augment the development of 2023 first-round pick Anthony Richardson with him.
In the later stages of his career, Flacco has found himself in the unwitting “mentor” role next to Lamar Jackson in Baltimore, Zach Wilson in New York, and Richardson in Indianapolis. It will happen again when the Browns select a quarterback in this year’s draft who may be, or may not be, the team’s next great hope.
Flacco addressed the balance of competing for a starting job while serving as a mentor to a rookie QB.
“If you want to be a good mentor, or even if you don't, I think just competing and doing your best and doing it the way that you know to be the right way … even if it’s your secondary goal, I think that’s the best way for people to learn,” he said.
“I'm going into my 18th year and I still have things to learn, whether it's about myself or how the game is being played. So I don't think being a mentor has ever been like my main goal, but I do think that competition and that quarterback room in general kind of breeds the environment to learn and to become the best version of yourself.”
Flacco started six games for the Browns in 2023 after joining the team in late November. He started six for the Colts in 2024 after relieving Richardson in one and producing a win over the Steelers. He believes that even at the age of 40 he can play at a high level over a full, 17-game schedule.
“I feel as good as I ever have,” he said. “I mean, I probably have a skewed version of what the reality is at this point. But, yeah, I can. I mean, I do all I can to keep myself in great shape, and … listen, football is a demanding sport. You never know what's going to happen. But as far as just going the long haul, like, besides a knee injury here and a couple things there, I think I've been able to prove throughout the course of my career that I can stay healthy and deal with some things along the way. But I'm going to be out there and be a reliable guy to show up every Sunday for you.”
Flacco said he is very comfortable with the Stefanski offense that he executed in 2023 and is excited about being reunited with the Browns’ veteran-laden offensive line and tight end David Njoku. Njoku averaged 6 receptions for 80.5 yards and had 4 touchdowns in six games with Flacco flinging the ball.
Flacco is also very excited about the prospect of the Browns adding Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter in the draft. If they take him with the No. 2 overall pick, as expected, the Browns would play Hunter primarily at wide receiver but also give him reps at cornerback.
“I don't pay too much attention to college football anymore, but it was hard not to notice him,” Flacco said. “You've got to give him credit. I mean, obviously he's super explosive and is a game changer. Whether he's actually going to play both ways at the next level, whatever, you like the fact that he has the ability to do that.
“It just shows you that he's more than just like an athlete. He's more than just athletic. He’s more than just a guy that can run fast and jump high. He actually has a feel for how to play the game and he has the capability of doing multiple things. It just leads you to believe that he can probably pick things up pretty quickly, and he can be somebody that you can rely on to kind of have a really good feel for the game.”