Cincinnati acquired the 40-year-old Flacco in a trade with the Cleveland Browns on Tuesday, and he will start Sunday at Green Bay.
Brown, who was a ballboy for the Ravens in 2008 and 2009, said he doesn’t believe there was a quarterback before Flacco that Baltimore believed in more outside of maybe Steve McNair for his brief stint in 2006-07. Flacco went on to win a Super Bowl with the Ravens in 2012, and Brown had the good fortune, he said, of playing with Flacco when the Ravens drafted Brown – and current Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson – in 2018.
This is the second time Brown will have a chance to block for him, after doing so for his first three starts as a rookie before Flacco suffered a hip injury and lost his starting job to Jackson.
“It’s crazy,” Brown said after recalling his first experiences around Flacco. “I couldn’t imagine necessarily the blessings that come with being able to play this game to 40 years old, it’s truly special. I’m happy I have the opportunity to do it with him again.”
Brown said Flacco brought a positive energy and leadership that was vital to the locker room during that 2018 season, before moving on to Denver the next year, and he is doing the same now with Cincinnati.
With frustrations mounting in the bowels of Paycor Stadium, the Bengals had to make a change.
Flacco had been benched after a 1-3 start with Cleveland, but the Bengals are leaning on his experience, leadership and arm strength making a difference in their system.
“I think everyone’s just seen him, been there, done that, you know, and won a Super Bowl and won a lot of games and been successful in a lot of different places,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said. “And so, I can’t speak for other people, but when you bring a guy here with that experience and those skins on the wall, I think it’s significant and can mean something to guys.”
Flacco, who will be made available to the media Friday, was the Super Bowl MVP in 2012 and has remained active in the league despite his last full-game season being in 2017. Since leaving Baltimore in 2019, he’s played games for the Broncos, New York Jets (2020-22), Cleveland (2023 and 2025) and the Indianapolis Colts (2024).
“I think it was an aggressive move and hopefully it pays dividends,” Bengals center Ted Karras said.
Taylor said director of player personnel Duke Tobin sought his input upon learning a trade for Flacco was possible, and he was fully on board. Browning struggled to move the ball effectively even in the one game he did take are of the football, but the last straw was the three picks that set them back against Detroit on Sunday. He had eight interceptions over 15 quarters of action.
Browning was made aware Monday the organization was looking at other options, and on Tuesday, he was told Flacco would be replacing him as starter.
“I’m not dumb or arrogant enough to think I didn’t play a role in the offensive struggles, but I think there’s a lot that goes into it, and the communication to me was trying to find a spark on offense after getting beat pretty bad three games in a row,” Browning said Wednesday, speaking at his locker and acknowledging he was angry but not sulking. He remains the No. 2 quarterback.
In October, the options of available quarterbacks are limited, but Taylor said Flacco was a good fit, especially as a veteran who will be able to get ready quickly. He’s not concerned about the lack of mobility in a 40-year-old quarterback because that was never a big part of Flacco’s game, and he’s still enjoyed plenty of success over the years.
Flacco had six interceptions and just two touchdowns in four starts for Cleveland before he was benched for rookie third-round draft pick Dillon Gabriel ahead of the Week 5 game against Minnesota in London. One of those losses was to the Bengals in the opener when he threw two picks, but he completed 68.9 percent of his passes for 290 yards and a touchdown.
More notable to the Bengals this week is the fact he already has played the Packers, his one win of the season.
“You’ve done seven days of prep already on the team and got out there and played and felt them and understand what their line feels like, understands, you know, the basic cover structures and some of the things that they try to do to stress you,” Taylor said. “… He’ll still need to do the same thing, because they played two games since then, but at the same time, it’s at least there’s in the back of his mind, man, I’ve played these guys, and I have an understanding of how they try to attack you.”
Flacco is focusing most of his time on learning the Bengals’ offense. After finalizing the trade around 2 p.m. Tuesday, the organization sent a car to pick up Flacco and his wife a few hours later to drive them – and their things in another car – to Cincinnati.
During the drive, Taylor got on a call with Flacco and went over the basics before he arrived at the facility Tuesday night and for his first full day Wednesday.
“We just tried to cover all the base pieces of information,” Taylor said. “I mean, you like to knock out personnel and formations and motions and the easy stuff, and then when you get in here, get the nuts and bolts. So, probably talk some run game last night, I think, on the phone too, got into the run game plan and just the easy stuff that he knew, and it all sounds familiar. So he’ll be ready to roll.”
Ideally, the Bengals are just buying time and relevance until Burrow returns, potentially in December, to make a run for the playoffs.
Taylor said there is no update on his recovery from turf toe surgery, but regardless, Cincinnati wants to win games.
“Our No. 1 focus is winning every game we can possibly win and go to the playoffs and go deep in the playoffs,” Taylor said. “That is 100% our focus, regardless of who our quarterback is. That’s what we’re trying to do.”
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