Bengals TRADE for Joe Flacco | Why now and what this means for BOTH teams

Bengals TRADE for Joe Flacco | Why now and what this means for BOTH teams

Breaking news here into CBS Sports HQ where the Cincinnati Bengals have acquired quarterback Joe Flacco from the Cleveland Browns. That’s the latest from our NFL insider Jonathan Jones. The Bengals have been struggling since Joe Burrow went down with a toe injury, losing three straight to fall to two and three on the season with Jake Browning at the helm. They are on the road to play the Packers this Sunday afternoon. And with that, we bring in our NFL insider, Jonathan Jones, joining us now. So, Jonathan, with this news, how much does the signing help the Bengals? Well, it helps them a lot more than where they were yesterday, right, Tiffany? They they finally understood what truly and honestly was evident and obvious to the rest of the NFL. They weren’t going to be able to stay afloat with Jake Browning as their quarterback. they were really relying on a couple years ago and how well he played a winning record there. But when you look at how Jake Browning has played this season, it wasn’t good enough. It was not going to help them be competitive by mid December when they hope that Joe Burrow will be fully recovered and able to play and return from that turf toe injury and subsequent surgery. And so they turned to Joe Flacco. A rare inseason trade for the Cincinnati Bengals. They don’t ever really trade for players. Um and a rare interdivision trade. Rarely do you see this happen and take place within a division. It’s taking place now between the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns of the AFC North. uh a rare sort of helping a uh a division rival, unless of course the division rival may know something about the quarterback. We see right there Joe Flacco’s numbers this season. If you go back to last year when he was with the Indianapolis Colts, only one quarterback uh well actually no quarterback has a worse passer rating qualifying than Joe Flacco since the start of last year. He did not play well for the Colts. has not played well for the Cleveland Browns and ultimately got benched for Dylan Gabriel. So, the magic that he had at the end of that 2023 season that helped the Browns make it to the playoffs has not been able to be recreated. And so, the Browns saying that they can do without Joe Flacco. Best of luck to you in Cincinnati. They’re willing to help out the Bengals in theory or maybe of course they know something uh about Joe Flacco and his level of play that the Bengals may soon find out. I do want to get to that. I also want to say I was on the sidelines and I’ve been on the sidelines for a couple Bengals games where Jake Browning has been the quarterback and coming off of the one where Joe Burrow goes down with that toe injury. You know, this team just had so much confidence in Jake Browning. So, it might be saying a lot about what they think about him right now. And then what I want to ask is how much does this say about the Browns confidence now in Dylan Gabriel having traded away Joe Drew Flacco? So, we’ll start with Cincinnati where you were at that game with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Jaguars should have won that game. When the backup when when when the top five quarterback of the team goes down and the backup comes in and throws three interceptions, the other team always wins that game, right? And ever since then, Jake Brownie hasn’t been able to do enough. Another couple of interceptions. They play the Broncos the next week. He they only muster three points the next week. He throws multiple interceptions again. And so, yes, there was a lot of confidence in Jake Browning. Again, I think it was misplaced. Um, and so now the Bengals are more or less admitting that, turning uh to Joe Flacco. Now, what does it say about Dylan Gabriel? Well, they had already made the move, the Cleveland Browns had to Dylan Gabriel ahead of their game against the Minnesota Vikings in London. They were never turning back to Joe Flacco unless there happened to be an unfortunate injury. Once you go to the rookie, you’re not really going back to the veteran. the veteran who’s on a one-year contract, the veteran who does not have a future with the football team. And so, uh, they believe enough in Dylan Gabriel. They like what they have in him. You know, the scattering report was he makes good quick decisions. You can move him out. I think the coaching staff probably should have helped him out a little bit more down the stretch in a winnable game against the Minnesota Vikings. Uh, but the Browns do feel comfortable and confident in moving forward with Dylan Gabriel and Shador Sanders as their two quarterbacks in a season where they should have more wins than they do right now, just the one. Uh, and sending away Joe Flacco to Cincinnati. JJ, the trade deadline then is November 4th. So, what do you anticipate maybe for these two teams or even just the league as a whole? So, I actually had a story earlier this weekend on CBSports.com about the top quarterback names and how there were no calls on them. Uh, Cincinnati had not made a call on a Kurt Cousins or a Russell Wilson. The Giants haven’t fielded any calls for Russell Wilson. People keep talking about Jameus Winston. He’s on a two-year contract with the Giants. I think the Giants want to keep Jameus Winston. They’d be willing to part with Russell Wilson if someone is interested in him. Kurt Cousins is going to be a difficult name to move because of his 27.5 million dollar contract this year. A lot of teams, first of all, they can’t take that on. Most teams don’t want to take it on. And then how much would the Atlanta Falcons want to eat of that? You look at the Joe Flacco deal. It’s a pick swap. Five and six. But also, Joe Flacco just has about $800,000 in remaining base salary. That is going to be what the Cincinnati Bengals wind up paying for the rest of this season. One other name, Anthony Richardson. Colts have no interest in dealing him. I’ve heard a couple other names out there. What would the San Francisco 49ers do perhaps once Brock Pury is healthy? They have M. Jones. M. Jones isn’t going anywhere. 3-0 as the backup to become the starter on a two-year contract with the San Francisco 49ers. That’s not going to happen. So, this was a much needed trade for the Cincinnati Bengals. The Browns could do it because they don’t need Joe Flacco anymore. They’ve moved on from Joe Flacco. Uh, I don’t know that we’re going to see a whole lot more trades right now, right? We’re still four plus weeks away from the trade deadline. Things will pick up probably two weeks or so from now. After today, we are certainly going to be looking forward to see what happens throughout the rest of the league. JJ, great insight. Thanks for joining us. That was our Jonathan Jones, NFL insider. And for more things NFL, of course, you can always join us here on CBS Sports HQ. News highlight scores, everything is here. Well, still to come here, the Cincinnati Bengals have acquired quarterback Joe Flacco from the Cleveland Browns. More on this trade, how it could impact both of these teams ahead, still to come on Sports HQ. [Music] Breaking news here into CBS Sports HQ where the Cincinnati Bengals have acquired quarterback Joe Flacco from the Cleveland Browns. That is the latest from our NFL insider Jonathan Jones. Now, the Bengals have been struggling since Joe Burrow went down with a toe injury, losing three straight to fall to two and three on the season with Jake Browning at the helm. And this week, they are on the road to play the Packers on Sunday afternoon. And with that, we’ve got guests here joining us now. We’ve got our NFL analyst, Lijay Dooable, and Adidita Kinkala, who uh has the league covered. We know you’re working sidelines. I’m joining you there, too, sometimes. Uh so, let’s start with this guys, and I’ll start with you, Le. Can you assess the Bengals chances now of of making a run now that they’ve made this switch? Because obviously now maybe they’re not thinking that Jake Browning is the guy. Yeah, Tiff, this is a bit of a headscratcher and to me it also smells of desperation by the cle uh by the Cincinnati Bengals when you look at it right. Zack Taylor two consecutive years not making the playoffs. Tiffany, you’ve covered this league for a while. If you go three years without making the playoffs, usually your seat gets hot as far as job security. So when you look at it, you rarely see interdivisional trades, right? So the Cleveland Browns have had Joe Flacco in the building. They’re willing to trade him to a divisional foe. That should tell you everything you need to know. And then I’m gonna have our producer Mark put up this graphic comparing Jake Browning to Joe Flacco. What’s the difference, Tiff? Well, what’s the difference? Ma matter of fact, when you look at Joe Flacco, his interception to touchdown ratio is worse than Jake Browning. So, to me, yes, I get it. It hasn’t gone well. But me and you, Tiff, were talking before we came online. It doesn’t matter who’s at quarterback right now for the Cincinnati Bengals behind that offensive line. The reason why they don’t have their superstar quarterback is because of that offensive line. And now you’re going to take Jake Browning away putting Joe Flack. I’m not saying Jake Browning is the answer, but you’re going to put Joe Flack in there who is less mobile than Jake Browning. How is that going to pan out? Another issue, this offensive line has not blocked well for Chase Brown running the football. They become a one-dimensional team. So again, you remove Jake Brown and you put Joe Flackle in who’s older. Are you gonna sit back and throw 40 times with Joe Flacco? Because history has shown us that’s not gonna bode well for your team. All right. Well, Lisa, here’s what I’ll say. You are completely right about that offensive line. I certainly hope that that offensive line doesn’t get Joe Flacco killed, but Flaco can indeed deliver the ball to Jamar Chase and T. Higgins. So, you’ve got that going for you. And if you’re not constantly behind, then maybe you can get that run game going. And that obviously has been a huge problem for the Bengals. The run game, the play action game, haven’t seen it at all. The thing I would say, this is I’m so guys, my mind is blown. Why would you send a quarterback to a division rival right now who could actually put the ball in the hands of your playmakers? You had an opportunity to completely bury the Bengals. Why would you do this? and the Bengals. I’m going to come back to another quarterback that the Browns had during training camp, the one that they actually wanted to start for them, and that was Kenny Picket. Why wouldn’t you make an effort to go trade for a guy who actually does have some athleticism, who could possibly move when your offensive line isn’t secure in any way and doing its job. So, it’s headscratching in a lot of ways. All I can think is that the Bengals believe that Joe Flacco can indeed deliver the ball downfield. The Browns know that Deshawn Watson is getting healthier. Kevin Stfansky just gave an update. When I talked to Deshawn myself during training camp, he said that he was ahead of schedule as compared to when he had hurt the Achilles before. Maybe the Browns have seen enough out of Dylan Gabriel and they are that hopeful that he stays healthy. Maybe this is Jimmy Hasslam having said during training camp that the Browns want to at least see both of these rookie quarterbacks at some point. So whether Shader Sanders is talking or not, he’s going to get an opportunity at some point, but I certainly feel that Joe Flacco is indeed an upgrade. He can indeed still throw the ball to Browning, but it’s a headscratcher all around, guys. Totally a headscratcher. Yeah, I could feel that coming from both of you, the energy. And same here. And I want to go back to you did mention Joe Flacco could get them ahead, right? Like find the playmakers, get them ahead. There’s been times in the past where the Bengals have been able to rely on their defense to kind of turn some things around. It’s been a little hit and miss this season. I know I had them in week two with that loss uh against the Jags and you’re kind of just like left like what’s going on there. Uh that being said, Adid, I got to ask you then since you are boots on the ground when it comes to all things AFC North a lot of the time, just what does this mean for for the division as a whole now? I mean, Tiffany, the Steelers of all people are in the driver seat. I said this before, you know, I think I said this on HQ, in fact, last week that no matter what that offense does, no matter what decisions Mike Tomlin makes, the football gods just don’t want the Steelers to lose. And so, the Ravens have so much to figure out. You can look at them and still say that they are the most talented team in the division. You can still expect that at some point they will get healthy. You hope that that defense, you hope for their sake that just like a year ago, that defense that started slow will write itself in some way. I am unwilling four or five weeks into the season to sit here and write off any team. So, the Ravens are still a load and you’ve still got one of the best players in the National Football League and Lamar Jackson, one of the few quarterbacks and can put a team on his shoulders. You’re not writing them off, but they’re not healthy right now and they’re certainly having a lot of issues on offense in terms of what they are doing. They’re certainly having some questions on defense. So, okay, the Ravens have to figure out a lot. The Browns are rolling with a rookie quarterback who’d certainly had a nice efficient outing in in London this past weekend. You’re never going to expect a rookie quarterback to put a team on his shoulders. Who knows what’s happening with Jerry Judy and those wide receivers right now. You have some tight ends that you can count on. You need that run game to do a little bit more and not just rely on a rookie. And that defense is indeed a number one type defense, but it’s not getting the takeaways the way the Steelers are. That defense needs to take on more. That Browns defense needs to get takeaways. That Browns defense needs to score until this rookie quarterback gets its legs under it. So, you’re certainly not sitting here and saying, “Okay, the Browns can potentially contend for the division right now. You need to see more out of them, and now you’ve traded away the veteran quarterback that you had should anything happen to the rookie.” And the Bengals, well, that offensive line and that run game and that defense, just like you said, Tiff, they fired Lu Anarumo because they expected that defense to be better. We haven’t yet seen that out of that Bengals defense. So, who’s believing in the Bengals right now? And Joe Burrow is at least two months away from coming back, if he is indeed at all. So, we’re back to the Steelers. No matter how they are constructed, and no matter what flaws they have, the Steelers are in the driver’s seat in this division. And to your point, Adidi, right, going into the season, besides the Cleveland Browns, the Steelers probably had the most question marks. And the one thing you can’t question is Mike Tomlin and getting the best out of his team every single year. I want to go back to the Ravens, right? because because this division has been a struggle so far to start the season. They’re still still not out of it. Matter of fact, Vegas has them as the betting odds to still win this division. Right now, they have a big game versus the Rams this week. We don’t assume that Lamar Jackson’s going to play. But to your point, Adidi, if they start getting everybody back after the buy, the schedule lightens up. Now, first and foremost, they need to get things together on their side instead of worrying about who they have to play. But if they can get everybody back and play the Raven type football, like you said last year, their defense really struggled to start the year. It was more of the passing defense this year. It’s the running defense, but if they can play that type of football they played last year, they can make a serious run. But it’s just funny to me that going into this season, the two question marks in the AFC North where the Cleveland Browns and Steelers and the Steelers are winning the division right now and and clearly winning the division. It’s not even close. That’s who Go ahead. No, I was just going to throw one more thing out there. You know, the Brown, every team always tells you that they’re doing everything that they can to contend. Nobody is taking a red shirt year as a team. But let’s not forget that the Browns have two first round picks next year because of that Travis Hunter trade. So, in some ways, when ownership says during training camp, we want to see what we have with these young guys, the Browns need to know what they have in these two young rookie quarterbacks before next year. So, not that they’re giving up on the season, but you only know what you have when you play these guys, right? It’s true. It’s true. And the Browns are going to see Dylan Gabriel, I should say, and the Browns are going to see the Steelers uh this week. Now, they are just coming off of that loss to the Vikings, but everyone seemed to be pretty impressed with what Dylan Gabriel was able to do in that game. Obviously, the Browns were enough to be able to trade uh Joe Flacco. So, um let me ask you this, Le. So, you’ve got Shador Sanders now. Yeah. QB2 and and maybe what are his chances now of of possibly cracking into a game? I think as good as Dylan Gabriel played in his first start, I don’t think you even consider putting Shador in unless there’s an injury. Now again, it’s a long season. We’re still early on in the season, I’m not mistaken, I believe that we’re going into week six if I’m not mistaken right now. So like there’s still a good portion of the season left to continue with. So right now Shador Sanders moves up the depth chart. He’ll be dressed right. He was the emergency quarterback when Joe Flagger was there, now he’s solidified as the number two guy behind Dylan Gabriel. And I think he only plays if Dylan Gabriel literally falls off the wagon or he essentially gets hurt. But again, the way Dylan Gabriel was played throughout preseason, even his first start last week, so efficient as Adid talked about with the football, you know what you’re going to get with Dylan Gabriel. If the first read is open, he’s taking it. He’s not going to go broke taking a profit. And that’s the thing that I think Kevin Stfansky looked at and said with how our offense has struggled and our defense has played like a championship type defense, we are wasting these outings from our defense. Let’s put the young guy in there and see what he has because I know one thing, if the first read is open, he’s going to take it. He’s not going to sit back there, burp the baby, and hold the football. So again, I don’t think Shador plays. If Dylan Gabriel has a regression, I mean a mean regression, you got to give the young kid some rope, right? If he has a mean regression or he gets hurt, that’s when I believe Shador will go in and play for the Browns. And Lee, one of my CBS is so fabulous to let us work with other teams during the preseason. And my preseason gig is with the Browns. So, I was there with them all during training camp, all through those three preseason games. I can tell you Kevin Stfansky loves Dylan Gabriel for all the reasons you just said. He is a very, very smart, heady player. He is in that film room. He studies exceptionally. You tell him one thing once and he doesn’t make a mistake twice. He is all the things personalitywise that Kevin Stfansky wants out of a quarterback. And just like you said, he’s not playing street ball. He’s not sitting there just trying to see what can open up downfield. What can I possibly create? He goes through his progressions extremely well and extremely efficiently. Now, Shadur, he’s got a great magnetism to who he is. He’s got a lot of growing to do and he has admitted that he is working towards that. He is getting better. But what he ran at Colorado is not necessarily what Kevin Stfansky is looking to run right now. And so there’s certainly still a lot of growth that he needs to do both in the playbook, on the field, and even off the field. We saw the mimming in the locker room a week ago. I I don’t think that this is a statement that he is one snap away from going in. This is Dylan Gabriel’s team right now. He does not need to look over his shoulder. The Browns want to see progress out of him. And yes, there’s more opportunity for Shadur to continue to keep getting better as he has all year. This uh trade had us all fired up in this building. So, thank you. My phone keeps blowing up. People are like, “What’s going on?” And I just I can’t answer these questions right now. You know, it’s it’s crazy. Al, thank you. And Adidi, thank you for joining us. All right, man. More on this trade, everything NFL right here on CBS Sports HQ. Get your news, your highlights, and scores. It’s all here.

Jonathan Jones, Leger Douzable, and Aditi Kinkhabwala join CBS Sports HQ with latest news and reaction to the Bengals trading for Joe Flacco from the Browns.

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