With the signing of Joe Flacco, Jack Duffin takes a look at how the Cleveland Browns 2025 quarterback position room will probably look once we get to week one of the season.
It can take a couple of days for the official numbers and incentives to come out once a contract is agreed as we don’t just need the total numbers from the agent but the full breakdown of everything in the deal. In the meantime I am going to take a look at how this addition changes the position room and who the players in it most likely are come week one of the season.
Reunion: the Cleveland Browns and veteran quarterback Joe Flacco reached agreement today on a one-year, $4 million deal worth up to $13 million with incentives, his agency @JLSports3 told ESPN. Flacco now will return to Cleveland, where he won the NFL’s Comeback Player of the… pic.twitter.com/pOaCuhrVmS
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 11, 2025
Previous Position Room
We will start by looking at how Andrew Berry’s position room has been built to start the season each year:
2021 – Mayfield, Keenum
2022 – Brissett, Dobbs, Mond
2023 – Watson, Thompson-Robinson
2024 – Watson, Winston, Thompson-Robinson
Cash Spending Per Year
2020 – $8,951,180
2021 – $11,106,770
2022 – $60,767,500
2023 – $47,092,268
2024 – $50,915,000
Current Contracts
Deshaun Watson
2025 – $46,000,000 (fully guaranteed)
2026 – $46,000,000 (fully guaranteed)
2027 – Dummy Year (for a Post June 1st cut)
Kenny Pickett
2025 – $2,623,350 (fully guaranteed)
More Additions
The first place people’s minds will go is does this close the door to a Kirk Cousins signing. For me it makes it very unlikely that he will come to the Browns but at the same time it is probably his best chance at a starting role of any team on the market if the Steelers sign Rodgers. Would he want to sign and join a quarterback competition with three other quarterbacks if they draft someone. He might be better waiting and when a team gets an injury making the most of that.
They will need to add another player to the position room too, this could be a UDFA or a veteran minimum player like Jeff Driskel.
