![\"Browns](\"https:\/\/athlonsports.com\/.image\/c_fill,w_1200,h_675,g_faces:center\/MjE1NDE0MjgxMjI1NjQzNTM5\/usatsi_26306967.jpg\")
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To some\u00a0Cleveland Browns\u00a0observers who we might argue are blinded by their love for rookie\u00a0Shedeur Sanders, it will never make any sense.<\/p>\n
But Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski is nevertheless trying to explain why he named veteran\u00a0Joe Flacco\u00a0as his starting\u00a0quarterback\u00a0for the 2025 season.<\/p>\n
And we don\u2019t see it as \u201ccontroversial\u201d at all.<\/p>\n
Stefanski\u2019s approach is clear: While some believe the Browns are destined to go nowhere as presently constructed and should therefore \u201cfind out what they have\u201d in the fifth-round rookie Sanders, the Cleveland coach is, simply \u2026<\/p>\n
Trying to win football games.<\/p>\n
Stefanski has reasons to trust Flacco, even at age 40. He called Flacco \u201cphysically the same\u201d as he was in 2023 when he arrived in Cleveland late in the year and led the Browns to an unlikely playoff berth.<\/p>\n
In the five games he played in as a emergency QB \u201coff the couch,\u201d Flacco \u2013 who long ago helped the\u00a0Baltimore Ravens\u00a0win a\u00a0Super Bowl\u00a0\u2013 completed 60 percent of his passes, threw for 1,616 yards and posted 13 touchdowns to eight interceptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s gotten all of the work (since being named the starter) with the 1\u2019s to sharpen up his game, get comfortable with the guys around him,\u201d Stefanski said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
And if Cleveland is trying to win, starting Sunday in\u00a0NFL\u00a0Week 1 as a big underdog against rival Cincinnati? Flacco is best-equipped to do that.<\/p>\n
As for Shedeur, the son of NFL icon\u00a0Deion Sanders\u00a0\u2013 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\u2019t even consider him the best rookie QB on the roster.<\/p>\n
Dillon Gabriel was taken before Shedeur Sanders. And Gabriel remains perched higher on the depth chart.<\/p>\n
Contrary to what angry fans seem to think, there is no \u201canti-Sanders\u201d conspiracy here; if the Browns were trying to \u201csabotage\u201d Shedeur \u2013 and some manic critics have outrageously charged \u2013 they wouldn\u2019t have drafted him.<\/p>\n
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?<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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