To some Cleveland Browns observers who we might argue are blinded by their love for rookie Shedeur Sanders, it will never make any sense.
But Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski is nevertheless trying to explain why he named veteran Joe Flacco as his starting quarterback for the 2025 season.
And we don’t see it as “controversial” at all.
Stefanski’s approach is clear: While some believe the Browns are destined to go nowhere as presently constructed and should therefore “find out what they have” in the fifth-round rookie Sanders, the Cleveland coach is, simply …
Trying to win football games.
Stefanski has reasons to trust Flacco, even at age 40. He called Flacco “physically the same” as he was in 2023 when he arrived in Cleveland late in the year and led the Browns to an unlikely playoff berth.
In the five games he played in as a emergency QB “off the couch,” Flacco – who long ago helped the Baltimore Ravens win a Super Bowl – completed 60 percent of his passes, threw for 1,616 yards and posted 13 touchdowns to eight interceptions.
“He’s gotten all of the work (since being named the starter) with the 1’s to sharpen up his game, get comfortable with the guys around him,” Stefanski said on Wednesday.
And if Cleveland is trying to win, starting Sunday in NFL Week 1 as a big underdog against rival Cincinnati? Flacco is best-equipped to do that.
As for Shedeur, the son of NFL icon Deion Sanders – with all the lofty accolades and the polarizing baggage that comes with that? From Draft Day back in April, it was clear that the Browns don’t even consider him the best rookie QB on the roster.
Dillon Gabriel was taken before Shedeur Sanders. And Gabriel remains perched higher on the depth chart.
Contrary to what angry fans seem to think, there is no “anti-Sanders” conspiracy here; if the Browns were trying to “sabotage” Shedeur – and some manic critics have outrageously charged – they wouldn’t have drafted him.
And those same critics had better brace themselves, because barring an incredible turn of events that would have Shedeur jumping up two spots on the depth chart, becoming a rookie starter, and experiencing phenomenal success?
Cleveland is likely to do it all over again next April, when a poor record figures to lead them to selecting yet another quarterback in the 2026 NFL Draft.
