Cincinnati Bengals trade for Joe Flacco from Cleveland Browns | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC

It was better late than never for the Cincinnati Bengals, although it’s unclear how much better it’s going to be. A special edition of PFTPM necessitated by the news that the Cincinnati Bengals have a new quarterback. They have traded not for Russell Wilson, not for Jameus Winston, not for Kirk Cousins. They did an instate transaction. The Cleveland Browns after benching Dylan Gabriel have now sent him to the Bengals for a fifth round pick but along with a sixthround pick from Cleveland to Cincinnati. So it’s a net one round bump in a draft pick for the Browns and they move on from the balance of Joe Flacco’s salary for 2025 at a time when they had decided to see what Dylan Gabriel can do. and Gabriel did well enough that at this point they don’t really need Joe Flacco. Now they have no veteran presence, at least no active veteran presence. Once Deshaawn Watson is activated from the physically unable to perform list, he becomes the veteran who can help tutor Dylan Gabriel and maybe eventually Shadur Sanders. The issue though for Cleveland is that they had too many quarterbacks and we’ve seen Kenny Picket go and now we’ve seen Joe Flacco go and the Bengals desperately needed help because the bottom line is their backup was playing like a backup not a starter. When Jake Browning played two years ago four and three in place of Joe Burrow, numbers were solid. He was a starter who just happened to be a backup. Now he’s a backup and clearly a backup and he’ll go back to being a backup again most likely if they don’t just get rid of him. I think they keep him around because if Joe Flacco gets injured they’re going to need somebody and the only other option they have is Brett Ripen. The question now becomes how quickly can Flaco get up to speed in the Cincinnati offense? And when you consider he’s got two great weapons in Jamar Chase and T. Higgins probably the two best receivers he’s ever had on a team and he’s been playing for a long time. Is this just a matter of throw the ball up to them? That was the plan against the Broncos after the Vikings blew the Bengals out in week three, the Monday night game against Denver. Let’s get it to Higgins. Let’s get it to Chase. Well, it didn’t work because Browning couldn’t get it to them on a consistent basis. Can Flacco do that? With Flacco, you got to take the bad with the good. But they already were having the bad with Jake Browning. Flaco is going to throw a couple of interceptions a game. Well, Browning was throwing three, so it’s an upgrade. Now, will it matter? I don’t know. But it’s good to see the Bengals finally do something. And Zack Taylor, the coach of the team, needed to demand something because as the team was disintegrating, we were starting to get this idea that maybe Zack Taylor’s going to be in trouble. Again, he’s only in trouble if he has no buyout beyond this year on his contract because Mike Brown and the Bengals aren’t going to pay any coach to not coach the team. But it just felt like it was falling apart and it felt like it was becoming hopeless. Now the situation gets reconfigured a little bit as the Bengals try to take two and three and falling fast and turn it into something where they can be competitive. They’re in second place in the AFC North with the Browns and the Ravens in the basement. If they can stabilize things, if Lacaco can win a game here or a game there, who knows? Maybe the Cincinnati Bengals can make things a little more interesting than they had been as they await for Joe Brow’s return mid December at the earliest. And let’s face it, if they don’t turn things around, if they aren’t competitive, if they aren’t in the mix, they’re not going to bring him back this year. It’s all going to come down to Flacco. So for Flacco, success means he gets benched, right? If he plays well, then there’s all the more reason for Brow to come back because they’ll be competitive. And that would be the latest in what is a strange roller coaster for Joe Flacco. 2023, he was the comeback player of the year. 2024, he was the don’t come back player of the year in Cleveland. Now, now he’s the hit the road jack and don’t you come back player in Cleveland. and he could eventually be the great job, you’ve done so well, we will bench you player in Cincinnati. Either way, it needed to happen. And who cares about indivision trades? The Browns don’t. They’re all about analytics. They’re not going to get hung up on on whether or not they’re helping a rival. They view it as they’re helping themselves. They upgraded a draft pick by a round and they moved on from a guy that they didn’t intend to play again this year. So, flat go to the Bengals. Browns move forward with Dylan Gabriel and Shadur Sanders and at some point Deshawn Watson and we’ll see if either of those teams can catch the Steelers and likewise fend off the Ravens in the AFC North. Hi, it’s Mike Florio. Thanks for watching PFT on YouTube. Hit subscribe for the latest news and analysis from Pro Football

With the Browns trading Joe Flacco to the Bengals, Mike Florio examines what success means for both the quarterback and Cincinnati with this deal. #NBCSports #NFL #ProFootballTalk #CincinnatiBengals #JoeFlacco #ClevelandBrowns
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Cincinnati Bengals trade for Joe Flacco from Cleveland Browns | Pro Football Talk | NFL on NBC
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21 comments

  2. Shedeur we will win the division. I know you don’t like it. We love it. Ha ha ha ha ha ha! QB# 1. 🦬🦬🦬🦬🦬🦬🦬🦬🦬🦬🦬🦬🦬🦬

  9. What a stupid move 😂 there's much more of a problem than the QB on the Bengals….no run game…no defense…Burrow had 113 yds week 1….what's this tell u? Much more problems with this team & it's because 75% of their salary cap is 3 offensive players…THIS, is the problem. Just ask the Chiefs the problems caused by ridiculously massive contracts on a small market team

  12. Browning's biggest problems were evading the pass rush – something Flacco doesn't do very well, and throwing too many interceptions – something Flacco has done often this year. Unless Burrow returns late in the season, I'll be surprised if Cincinnati wins more than another game or two. Their season's over. Accept it.

  16. flacco should be significantly better. jake browning was giving all the bad and none of the good. its not like he was throwing 4 tds and 3 interceptions.

  19. Browns are gonna have 3 1st round picks next year. They have 12 picks now. They will move up. WR, WR and OL. If Sheduer can do good things he will have studs next year

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