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Daniel Oyefusi
The Cleveland Browns and veteran quarterback Joe Flacco have reached agreement on a one-year, $4 million contract, his agent, Joe Linta, told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Friday.
The deal returns Flacco to Cleveland, where he won the NFL’s Comeback Player of the Year award in 2023.
The contract can be worth up to $13 million with incentives. The Browns also announced an agreement with Flacco on Friday without disclosing terms.
Flacco also spoke with the Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings but opted to spend his 18th NFL season with the Browns. Co-owner Jimmy Haslam had told a group of local reporters at the NFL’s annual meeting that Flacco remained an option for the team.
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Flacco joins a quarterback room with Deshaun Watson, who is rehabbing after retearing his right Achilles tendon and could miss most or all of the 2025 season, and Kenny Pickett, who was traded to Cleveland and said he was told he would get a chance to be the starting quarterback.
The Browns have been searching for quarterback help this offseason after using four passers in 2024. Cleveland opted not to re-sign Jameis Winston, last year’s backup, and traded for Pickett in the first week of free agency, sending the Philadelphia Eagles a fifth-round pick and quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson.
Cleveland holds the second overall pick in the 2025 draft and has met with several top quarterback prospects, including Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders, Jaxson Dart, Jalen Milroe and Tyler Shough. Haslam, though, said the team would not force a quarterback with its first selection.
Flacco was believed by some to be done with the NFL when no teams seriously considered adding him to their rosters for most of the 2023 season.
But in the aftermath of Watson’s season-ending shoulder injury that season, the Browns signed Flacco and he provided a five-game stretch that rivaled any that the franchise has seen from a quarterback since returning to Cleveland in 1999. Flacco threw for over 300 yards in four straight wins — the Browns went 4-1 in his five regular-season starts — before the run came to an end in a loss to the Houston Texans in the wild-card round.
That put him in position to be considered among the viable backup options in 2024, and the Indianapolis Colts added him as a veteran option behind Anthony Richardson on a one-year contract worth $4.5 million.
Flacco’s 2024 season saw both highs and lows, with an early 359-yard performance in a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars among the highs. Eventually, the struggles of Richardson and belief in Flacco prompted the Colts to insert the veteran as the starter in Week 9.
In the AFC playoff race at the time, coach Shane Steichen said he believed that Flacco gave the Colts the best chance to win. But then came the lows: Flacco, 40, threw a combined four interceptions in losses to the Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills, leading to his benching and the reinsertion of Richardson as the starter.
The Colts went 2-4 with Flacco as a starter last season. He finished with 1,761 passing yards, 12 touchdowns and 7 interceptions.
Selected in the first round of the 2008 draft by the Baltimore Ravens, Flacco has thrown for 45,697 yards with 257 touchdowns and 162 interceptions in 17 seasons. He was named the MVP of Super Bowl XLVII when he led the Ravens to victory over the San Francisco 49ers.
Flacco is one of three quarterback that has a winning record with the Browns since their return, along with Brian Hoyer (10-6) and Case Keenum (2-0).
ESPN’s Stephen Holder contributed to this report.
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