Newsletter: Comparing Colts’ Joe Flacco to the Browns’ Joe Flacco

Let’s check if the veteran quarterback changed some habits with the Colts.

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA - SEPTEMBER 29: Joe Flacco #15 of the Indianapolis Colts throws a pass during the first half of the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers at Lucas Oil Stadium on September 29, 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Colts beat the Steelers 27-24. (Photo by Lauren Leigh Bacho/Getty Images)

The Browns made the decision to bring Joe Flacco back to Cleveland in an effort to boost the baseline of their current…..shallow room. No offense meany to Kenny Pickett but the likelihood the gun-shy, one-read quarterback is able to find consistent success inside a chaotic pocket would be one of the NFL’s largest positional turnarounds in some time. He can spot start but he isn’t the solution.

The organization tried to find a more consistent one-year solution by signing back Flacco for what appears to be the bulk of the starting job for the 2025 season considering he beats out Pickett in Training Camp. There is little doubt both feel they belong on the field over the other. The wildcard here being who the Browns decide is worth selecting in 10 days and the timeline for that quarterback. Jalen Milroe would be a different structure to someone like Tyler Shough.

The exercise that felt worth looking at, as the Browns brought back Flacco, was if his experience working with Shane Steichen and the Colts brought about a style that punctuated Flacco’s better traits at an advanced age and if that approach helped to remedy the problems he had during that 2023 stint in Cleveland. Let’s have a look, shall we?