Could Joe Flacco be next in line to start at quarterback for the Browns?
We didn’t get an answer from Kevin Stefanski Monday on the Cleveland Browns’ quarterback plans for the week, which was fully expected.
As for what to actually expect as the week unfolds, it feels like the Browns are back in the nametag stage. Who’s the new guy, and how much of the playbook does he know? Can the player who was supposed to be this week’s homecoming king, Dorian Thompson-Robinson , get healthy? Most importantly, can the receivers develop some chemistry with Joe Flacco if the Browns have to go to a fourth starting quarterback this season?
All we know right now is that the Browns are spending the week in Southern California and they’re going to have to prepare either Flacco or P.J. Walker to be the starter. Stefanski said the team will monitor Thompson-Robinson’s progress in the NFL ’s concussion protocol, and he didn’t say much more than that.
He’s not going to, either.
Maybe the Browns will use the week away to put Flacco’s preparation on turbo speed. Maybe Stefanski will begrudgingly go back to Walker, who’s been turnover-prone when he’s had to play. Maybe there will be a sort of kitchen-sink approach with Flacco throwing deep balls, Walker throwing routes he already knows and the occasional appearance by a tight end, running back or slot receiver Elijah Moore at quarterback. We’ve seen the latter with mixed results already, and regrettable results in Sunday’s loss at Denver.
The Browns (7-4) are fighting for a playoff spot and trying to find any real answer for their reeling offense. So, yes — full Allen Iverson voice — we’re talking about practice and specifically about the importance of maximizing their chances to build a strong game plan inside their temporary West Coast headquarters this week. Thompson-Robinson had shown growth and an improved comfort level in Denver before suffering the concussion, but the Browns weren’t exactly lighting up the scoreboard. Walker did little in relief except turn it over and take a safety. And, frankly, the game was pretty much over by the time he could get loose. Nothing Stefanski has done or said indicates he wants to go back to Walker, but he might have to.
If Flacco takes starter reps this week, it will mark the third time since late September that the Browns had a quarterback taking No. 1 reps and essentially throwing to the team’s pass catchers for the first time. Thompson-Robinson only threw to backups in the preseason. Walker didn’t join the Browns via the practice squad until the week of the season opener, and he ran scout team until the bye week. Now, Thompson-Robinson’s status for Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Rams or even the Dec. 10 game against Jacksonville is unclear.
After placing Deshaun Watson on season-ending injured reserve , the Browns added Flacco to their practice squad in case they encountered another quarterback emergency. Here they are.
Flacco and Stefanski shared mutual friends, but they’d never previously worked together or knew one another directly. Flacco has been in similar offenses, but never this one. What might be a starting point is that Flacco’s first pass with the New York Jets in 2021 was a 25-yard completion to Moore, then a rookie. In Flacco’s first start with the Jets the following week, Moore had eight receptions on 11 targets for 141 yards and a touchdown. That connection is noteworthy now that Flacco could be taking over as Cleveland’s starter.
Rookie wide receiver Cedric Tillman had his best game in Denver, catching four passes for 55 yards. Tillman and Thompson-Robinson were high school teammates, and the two got plenty of chances to build on their previous chemistry during training camp and the preseason. Outside of the Browns believing top receiver Amari Cooper escaped serious injury despite leaving the Broncos game due to a ribs issue, Tillman’s ascent is perhaps the most important development the receiving corps has seen in weeks. Can he continue to be a factor with the next quarterback — or quarterbacks?
In the two games since Watson’s season-ending injury, the Browns have scored 25 total points and averaged 3.7 yards per play. For the season, they rank 29th at 4.5 yards per play. What we’ve seen lately simply hasn’t been good enough, even as Thompson-Robinson delivered on the last drive versus Pittsburgh and showed improvement in Denver. The Browns fumbled five times against the Broncos and, per Pro Football Focus grading, have nine dropped passes over the last two weeks. Even with what’s been a mostly safe game plan, they’ve been overly sloppy.
In their last two games, Cleveland has been mostly a shotgun offense (73 percent of the snaps) that’s been in 11 personnel (one tight end, one running back, three wide receivers) on 71 percent of the snaps. The Browns have tried to take advantage of Thompson-Robinson’s mobility, and the rookie has thrown mostly short passes with an average depth per target of 6.4 yards. Tight end David Njoku has been targeted 24 times over the last two weeks.
Flacco isn’t mobile, but he’s always had a big arm. The 38-year-old was not in a training camp and had been at home in New Jersey awaiting the kind of call he received from the Browns. Walker hasn’t been afraid to throw downfield, but he’s completing only 48.6 percent of his passes and has thrown five interceptions and just one touchdown. What does Flacco have left? The Browns might have to find out this week.
“We don’t really announce starters at any position on a Monday,” Stefanski said. “So those are always things when it comes to depth chart that you work through. You just have (this) week to work through those type of things. So that’s what we’ll do as it pertains to who’s available. That’s how the NFL operates. That’s how we operate. It changes week to week. That’s just how it is.”
Flacco remains on the practice squad and was not in uniform for Cleveland’s loss in Denver. The Browns traveled to Los Angeles immediately after the game and will practice at UCLA Wednesday-Friday. They have until Saturday afternoon to either sign Flacco to the active roster or elevate him from the practice squad for Sunday’s game.
Moore got 21 targets over the three games Flacco started for the Jets at the beginning of the 2022 season, a stretch that included the improbable comeback win over Cleveland when New York trailed by 13 inside the two-minute warning. Moore was only targeted once for 11 yards in the 2022 season finale when Flacco started. That was the last time Flacco took a snap of any kind.
The Jets traded Moore to the Browns in March . After an uninspiring start to the season, Moore has seen at least seven targets in five of the last seven games with the Browns’ rotating cast of quarterbacks. He scored his first touchdown with Cleveland in a Week 10 win in Baltimore , and in a Week 11 win over Pittsburgh he posted a season-high 60 receiving yards.
Before the touchdown in Baltimore, Moore’s biggest play had been a 30-yard catch from Walker along the sideline on what became the game-winning drive in Indianapolis. Walker was still on the practice squad then. He subbed in after Watson took a big hit late in the first quarter.
That doesn’t mean much now, but it serves as a reminder of what a long, strange trip this season has been. Stefanski won’t say what’s next, and there’s at least a chance that this early in the week he really doesn’t know. He just knows the Browns need at least two, probably three, more wins to make the playoffs, and they won’t get there unless they find a way to start scoring at least 17 points in a game.
(Top photo of Joe Flacco: Matthew Stockman / )
