Browns Let Joe Flacco Have Final Say in Bengals Trade After Being Benched for Gabriel

The Cleveland Browns allowed veteran quarterback Joe Flacco to make the call about his next steps after benching him for rookie Dillon Gabriel, according to The MMQB’s Albert Breer.

Breer reported Monday that Cleveland informed Flacco it would pull the trigger on a trade if he wanted a fresh start elsewhere.

The 40-year-old told Breer he appreciated the gesture.

“Now I don’t know if they would’ve done it anyway, if I wasn’t interested,” he said. “If I said, ‘No, I really don’t want to do that, guys,’ I don’t know if they would’ve said, ‘OK, yeah, that’s cool, we won’t do it then. But it did seem like [GM] Andrew [Berry] was like, ‘Listen, man, we appreciate what you’ve done. Would this be something you’d be open to?’ So we had a conversation about it, for sure.”

Flacco was unable to say whether he would’ve been as amenable to a trade if the Cincinnati Bengals hadn’t emerged as a suitor.

Cincinnati was one of the best possible options all things considered.

Joe Burrow is out until mid-December at the earliest, and Jake Browning wasn’t working as the stopgap. Flacco knew the starting job was his to lose, and he got to join an aerial attack that includes Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

The long-tenured signal-caller has thrown for 561 yards and five touchdowns through two appearances with the Bengals.

From the Browns’ perspective, trading Flacco within the division was risky because it will look worse if he plays well. And you’re helping Cincy potentially steal a playoff bid from you.

One could argue a franchise helps its general image around the NFL when it does a solid for a respected veteran. Sending Flacco to a good situation is a move agents and players might not forget.

And if Flacco is ultimately a big factor in Cleveland making or missing the playoffs, then the Browns had much bigger problems across the roster.