The Cleveland Browns opened practice on Wednesday in preparation for their game against the Los Angeles Rams, with a new face at backup quarterback.
Joe Flacco, who was signed to the Browns’ practice squad on November 20 and has yet to play for any team this season, has been promoted to QB2 and is expected to start against the Rams if Dorian Thompson-Robinson fails to clear the NFL’s concussion protocol.
That’s according to head coach Kevin Stefanski, who revealed the mostly predictable news ahead of the team’s practice session at UCLA (via The Beacon Journal):
“We’ll work on that throughout the week.” Joe is the backup this week while Dorian goes through the protocol. There’s no need to make any decisions just yet. We’ll see how things go.”
Thompson-Robinson was injured in the third quarter of last Sunday’s game against the Denver Broncos. He did not practice on Wednesday, and even though he has been taking starter reps in recent weeks, it may be difficult to get him ready to face the Rams if he is unable to practice fully the rest of the week.
Stefanski has also seen enough of P.J. Walker and his proclivity for fumbling the ball (five interceptions and two fumbles) to move Flacco up a spot on the depth chart as the Browns battle to stay in the AFC playoff race.
Flacco brings a wealth of experience to the position, having made 180 starts over the course of his 15-year career. However, he has been in decline since his last full-time season as a starter with the Baltimore Ravens in 2017, and he was available so late in the season for a reason.
If (when?) Flacco gets a start with the Browns, he will join Deshaun Watson, Thompson-Robinson, and Walker as the fourth quarterback to do so this season. If that happens and the Browns make the playoffs, they will be the first team to do so with four starting quarterbacks since the Houston Texans in 2015, when they used Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, TJ Yates, and Brandon Weeden during a 9-7 season that ended in a Wild Card round loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
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