NFL 2025: What Is the Impact of the Browns Naming Joe Flacco Starting QB?

• The Cleveland Browns have named Joe Flacco the starting QB for the beginning of the 2025 NFL season
• The veteran Flacco is the safe choice over Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel, and Kenny Pickett
• Coach Kevin Stefanski’s job may be on the line if the team doesn’t win, so he picked the QB from whom he knows what to expect
• How does this impact the Browns’ season?

Flacco Has the Fewest Question Marks

Despite being 40 years old, Flacco is the one quarterback on the Browns’ roster from whom Stefanski can say, “At least he can run the offense,” and not live in fear as to what his signal-caller might and might not do under fire. This is crucial, given the precision required in Stefanski’s West Coast offense, and the fact that the head coach is, bluntly, probably coaching for his job.

Flacco did not play particularly well for the Colts in 2024 when he took over for Anthony Richardson. The team switched back to Richardson because the offense wasn’t functioning any better with Flacco.

Still, he has his strong arm and his wealth of experience. None of the other QBs on the roster can say that.

What Were the Browns’ Real Options?

Scenario 1: The Browns start Flacco.

Scenario 2: The Browns hold an open competition until the end of the preseason.

Scenario 3: The Browns start Shedeur Sanders to quell the inevitable demands that he get a chance to play.

Of those three scenarios, the safest is to start Flacco with the reasons listed above.

If they chose Scenario 2, there would be endless speculation and debate, distracting the team with arbitrary justifications as to how they selected their starter. The preseason is difficult to gauge since teams typically do not play their starters for long, if at all. They do not want to give other teams a basis for what they plan to do when the regular season begins, so their true scheme is completely unknown. A player doing well in practice or a preseason game is largely irrelevant.

Under Scenario 3, the media and many fans would be thrilled. Shedeur is currently nursing an oblique injury and is viewed as day-to-day. He has looked solid in camp, and the easiest and most calculating thing for Stefanski to do is name him the starter. It would serve the dual purpose of taking the “When’s Shedeur gonna play?” question off the table. If he’s good, he’s good. If he’s bad, they can pull him for the veteran Flacco and glue him to the bench.

While that makes sense on paper, the rest of the team would likely see through it and be unhappy, and there’s every chance that Flacco would ask to be released.

The Browns’ Prospects Are Dim Regardless of Who’s Under Center

The Browns’ win total odds have gotten worse as the preseason has progressed.

Looking at their schedule, they open the season with five games against 2024 playoff teams in their first six. The one opponent that did not make the playoffs is the Bengals, whom they face in the season opener. There’s a real chance the Browns open the season by winning maybe one or two games out of those first six. They could even be winless by Week 7 when they host the Dolphins.

By then, Flacco will likely be on the trade block, and one of the younger QBs will be playing.

The Browns Naming Flacco Starting QB Won’t Matter

Flacco won Comeback Player of the Year for the Browns in 2023. He knows Stefanski and, age-related decline aside, is still capable of overseeing the offense.

Naming Flacco is the easy decision, made easier by the lack of viable options behind him. Gabriel is presumably their preferred QB of the future, with Pickett the safety net. Flacco is the QB for now, and Shedeur…well, no one really seems to know what to make of Shedeur.

The Browns will be bad no matter what. The key question is how bad. Will owner Jimmy Haslam understand the situation and give Stefanski a pass for factors that are beyond his control?

So what do you think of the Browns naming Flacco the starting QB?

Good move? Bad move? Or is it a move that doesn’t matter at all?

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