Joe Flacco will start for the Browns against the Rams
The Cleveland Browns will start their fourth different quarterback this season, as veteran quarterback Joe Flacco takes over on Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams.
Joe Flacco, 38, replaces rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who suffered a concussion in last weekend’s loss to the Denver Broncos and remains in the protocol. Cleveland officially waived Thompson-Robinson on Friday, clearing the way for Flacco to take over the starting job.
The Browns were already without Deshaun Watson, who underwent season-ending right shoulder surgery last month. PJ Walker has also started two games this season and will back up Flacco on Sunday.
Cleveland will also be without Pro Bowl cornerback Denzel Ward on Sunday as he misses his second straight game with a shoulder injury. He will play Myles Garrett (shoulder).
Flacco was the Super Bowl MVP with the champion Baltimore Ravens during the 2012 season. He signed with Cleveland on November 20. That move came a week after Watson suffered a fracture in his throwing shoulder.
Flacco noted Wednesday that the potential to start over is “definitely exciting,” especially after remaining an unsigned free agent for the first half of the season while waiting for an opportunity.
“There are so many things that add up now, having young children and feeling their excitement about it,” Flacco shared. “And when you’re away, things get put into perspective a little bit.”
Joe Flacco, who threw for 42,320 yards and 232 touchdowns in his career, started four games for the New York Jets in 2022.
His last four touchdown passes came against the Browns in Week 2 last season. To cap New York’s improbable 31-30 comeback victory over Cleveland, Flacco launched the game-winning goal to Garrett Wilson with 22 seconds left.
Several Browns players and coaches have praised Flacco’s appearance in practice this week, when he participated for the first time with the first-team offense.
“He throws well,” catcher Amari Cooper said. “I don’t know if he’s intentional or what, but when he steps back and lets it go, the whole movement is like poetry in motion. It looks good.”
Since 1950, the Browns have started four quarterbacks in a season only twice before: in 2008 (Brady Quinn, Bruce Gradkowski, Derek Anderson, Ken Dorsey) and in 1988 (Bernie Kosar, Don Strock, Gary Danielson, Mike Pagel ).
Cleveland, however, has never had four quarterbacks win titles in the same season.
The last NFL team to have four different starting quarterbacks win a game in a single season was the 2015 Houston Texans.
Since 1950, the Buffalo Bills (1961), New England Patriots (1987, 1988 and 1989), New Orleans Saints (1998) and Carolina Panthers (2007) also accomplished the feat.
Also on Friday, Browns receiver Michael Woods II was suspended for the final six games of the season for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. Woods, a sixth-round pick last year, tore his Achilles tendon in the offseason and hasn’t been with the team all season.
