New Browns QB Joe Flacco, 38, says ‘I can still play’،
BEREA, Ohio — Although he’s 38 years old, Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Flacco thinks he still has some gas left in the tank.
“I really believe I can still play,” Flacco said Wednesday, before his first practice with the Cleveland Browns.
After spending more than half the season waiting for an opportunity, Flacco finally signed with Cleveland on Monday.
The Browns were looking to add a third quarterback with Deshaun Watson out for the season with a broken throwing shoulder. Watson underwent surgery Tuesday in Los Angeles.
Flacco was the only quarterback the Browns chose to replace Watson on the roster. Flacco will begin his tenure in Cleveland as the backup behind rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who, in his second career start Sunday, led the Browns to a game-winning field goal in a 13-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cleveland also has quarterback PJ Walker on its roster.
“I’m a veteran who has played a lot at this point in the season with a team that’s doing well,” Flacco said. “So I think there’s a lot of different things I can bring to the table.
“Whatever my role is and wherever it takes me, I will do my best to achieve it.”
Flacco had 42,320 yards and 232 touchdowns in his career. He won the Super Bowl in 2013 while with the Baltimore Ravens and was named Super Bowl MVP.
Flacco most recently started games for the New York Jets during the 2022 season. In Week 2 of last season, Flacco led the Jets to an improbable fourth-quarter comeback in Cleveland. In that game, Flacco threw four touchdown passes, including the game-winner to Garrett Wilson with 22 seconds remaining. On Wednesday, Flacco called it “the craziest” game he’s ever played.
Flacco said he hoped to sign somewhere this season, but admitted he was starting to doubt that opportunity would arise.
“As I sat at home for most of this year, I was probably starting to lose a little confidence in it,” he said.
Flacco said his workout with the Browns Friday was the first he’s had since coming out of the University of Delaware in 2008, before the NFL draft.
“I was excited to do it,” he said. “You want to impress. It was cool and it was good practice.”
Flacco spent a decade with the Ravens, one of Cleveland’s rivals in the AFC North. Despite that, he said it wasn’t strange being in the Browns locker room.
“I think it would probably be a little different if I came here four or five years ago,” said Flacco, who also played with the Philadelphia Eagles and Denver Broncos.
Despite his roots in Baltimore, Flacco said his four sons, especially his 10-year-old son, already have a long Christmas list with “about 50 Browns things on it.”
The Browns will face the Broncos on Sunday in Denver.
