The Cleveland Browns were rewarded for taking a flier on Joe Flacco, and he has quickly established himself as the team’s starting quarterback for the remainder of the season. Flacco was successful enough, in fact, that some teams tried to make up for missing out on him previously.
Flacco’s agent, Joe Linta, told Peter King of NBC Sports that “two or three” teams inquired about signing Flacco when he was returned to the Browns’ practice squad last week in a roster management move. Linta said Flacco never considered leaving Cleveland.
“Joe didn’t want to hear it,” Linta said. “He absolutely wanted to stay in Cleveland. He loves the team. He really gets along well with the coach.”
When the Browns brought Flacco in, they initially signed him to the practice squad and then elevated him for game day. That meant he had to return to the practice squad, where he theoretically could have been targeted by other teams, even after the team committed to him as their starter. The Browns signed Flacco to a contract for the rest of the season last week to make sure this option was no longer on the table, even if Flacco was not tempted to leave.
Flacco has thrown for 939 yards with seven touchdowns in three games with Cleveland. He hasn’t been perfect, but he has been more than serviceable, and a few QB-needy teams may be kicking themselves for ignoring him for so long.
