{"id":93982,"date":"2025-08-19T09:39:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T09:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/93982\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T09:39:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T09:39:08","slug":"browns-name-joe-flacco-starting-qb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/93982\/","title":{"rendered":"Browns Name Joe Flacco Starting QB"},"content":{"rendered":"

To little surprise,\u00a0Joe Flacco<\/a>\u00a0will begin the 2025 season atop the depth chart. Browns head coach\u00a0Kevin Stefanski\u00a0announced on Monday that the 41-year-old will handle starting duties in Week 1. \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Flacco has long been seen as the top option for Cleveland. Injuries have been a problem for fellow veteran\u00a0Kenny Pickett<\/a>\u00a0but also rookies\u00a0Dillon Gabriel<\/a> and Shedeur Sanders<\/a>,\u00a0leading to missed reps during training camp. Even if all four contenders had been fully available, it still would have been seen as something of an upset for anyone but Flacco to get the early nod.<\/p>\n

Midway through the 2023 season, Flacco joined the Browns and quickly found himself handling QB1 duties. The former Super Bowl MVP helped lead the team to a 4-1 finish down the stretch and qualify for the playoffs. That track record of success and a familiarity with Stefanski\u2019s scheme were factors weighing heavily in Flacco\u2019s favor during training camp. After the 191-game starter received the majority of first-team reps in camp, signs pointed heavily to Stefanski\u2019s expected announcement<\/a> confirming this QB setup to begin the year.<\/p>\n

Pickett was seen as a contender to earn the nod ahead of camp, but a hamstring injury hindered his chances of genuinely pushing for the QB1 gig. The former Steelers first-rounder was traded to the Eagles last offseason and spent 2024 as\u00a0Jalen Hurts<\/a>\u2018 backup. The trade sending him to Cleveland was understandably followed by the decision to decline his fifth-year option. As a result, the 27-year-old enters this season as a pending free agent. Doing so as a backup (at best) is certainly an unwelcomed development from his perspective.<\/p>\n

Gabriel and Sanders have flashed potential during the preseason, and their respective development will be a key storyline for Cleveland in 2025. Gabriel drew trade interest<\/a> immediately after being drafted in the third round, but despite adding Sanders on Day 3 the Browns elected to retain him. Given the presence of Flacco and Pickett at that point, questions were raised about the possibility of all four signal-callers being kept on the active roster. General manager\u00a0Andrew Berry has consistently maintained he is willing to take that route.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the latest update on that front indicated Cleveland would carry each member<\/a> of the Flacco-Pickett-Gabriel-Sanders quartet on the 53-man roster following cutdowns.\u00a0Deshaun Watson<\/a>\u00a0is expected to miss the season while recovering from his second Achilles tear, while recent addition\u00a0Tyler Huntley<\/a>\u00a0is a candidate to be released after filling in as a healthy option under center as needed. That will not bring an end to discussions about how the Browns should proceed under center, of course.<\/p>\n

Struggles on the part of the team in general and Flacco in particular will no doubt lead to increased calls for a change under center. Turning to one (or both) of the rookies over the course of the season could lead to valuable evaluations concerning their long-term viability as potential starters. For now, though, Flacco is set to meet his goal of playing into his 40s. That will include at least a stretch in the starting spot to open his 18th NFL season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To little surprise,\u00a0Joe Flacco\u00a0will begin the 2025 season atop the depth chart. Browns head coach\u00a0Kevin Stefanski\u00a0announced on Monday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[1799,1800,10669,99],"class_list":["post-93982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-cleveland-browns","tag-joe-flacco","tag-newsstand","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}