Struggling Bengals Acquire 40-Year-Old Quarterback Joe Flacco From Browns

Flacco could become the fourth quarterback in NFL history to start for two teams in the same division in a season.

Joe Flacco of the Cleveland Browns prepares to pass against the Lions at Ford Field in Detroit on Sept. 28, 2025. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

The Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 7 executed a rare in-division trade that sends Browns’ veteran quarterback Joe Flacco and a 2026 sixth-round draft pick to Cincinnati for a 2026 fifth-round pick.

The move helps shore up Cincy’s quarterback room, which is dealing with a toe injury to Joe Burrow that has put him on injured reserve. The franchise player could miss the rest of the 2025 season. The Browns demoted Flacco to second string last week, instead starting rookie Dillon Gabriel, and the latter impressed with two touchdowns and no turnovers in his first start.

Flacco had started the first four games for Cleveland but struggled throughout. He never recorded more touchdowns than interceptions in any of the games and had two touchdowns versus six interceptions when benched. Of 33 qualified starting quarterbacks, Flacco’s 58.1 completion percentage ranks 32^nd, and his 60.1 passer rating is dead last.

Despite ranking 13^th in the NFL in pass attempts, Flacco is third in interceptions, and coincidentally, a person with whom he’s now sharing a quarterback room is one of the two players ahead of him in picks. The Bengals’ incumbent starting quarterback, Jake Browning, has struggled in Burrow’s place, throwing six touchdowns compared to eight interceptions, and his eight picks are second-most in the league, trailing only Geno Smith’s nine.

The Bengals have lost all three of Browning’s starts, which undoubtedly helped prompt the move, with the hopes they can salvage their season in the event that Burrow can return at the end. Cincinnati ranks 29^th in scoring, 29^th in passing offense and 32^nd of 32 teams in total yards gained. The number of interceptions also has the Bengals leading the NFL in giveaways, and lacking a passing game is also affecting the ground game, as the Bengals sit dead last in rushing offense.

Whether or not Flacco can remedy some of that remains to be seen, but he could see the field as early as Sunday versus the Green Bay Packers. It was just in Week 3 that Flacco picked up his only victory of the year when Cleveland upset the Packers, 13-10, which remains Green Bay’s only defeat.

Divisional trades are extremely uncommon, especially when they occur midseason. If Flacco does start for Cincinnati at any point this season, he will become just the fourth quarterback in NFL history to start for two teams in the same division in the same season. The last was Kyle Orton in 2011, who started for the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs of the AFC West after being waived midseason.

Flacco was in his second stint with the Browns, having played for them in 2023, when he went from being a street free agent to winning four of five starts, leading the Browns to the playoffs and being named Comeback Player of the Year.

The Bengals will become Flacco’s third AFC North team after spending most of his career with the Baltimore Ravens, with whom he won Super Bowl MVP in 2013. Now in his 18^th season, Cincy is set to be his sixth team overall as he also played for Denver, the New York Jets and the Indianapolis Colts, in addition to Cleveland.

For his career, Flacco ranks 16^th in NFL history with 46,512 passing yards, having passed former Bengals Pro Bowler Carson Palmer earlier this season. Flacco is fourth among active quarterbacks in passing yards and fifth among active QBs with 259 passing touchdowns.

For Cleveland, it has clearly turned the page to its pair of rookie signal callers in Gabriel and potentially Shedeur Sanders. The latter was third-string even after Gabriel was promoted but now becomes the backup and one step closer to making his NFL debut.

During preseason, the Browns carried another veteran quarterback on their roster, former first-round selection Kenny Pickett. However, an injury to Las Vegas quarterback Aidan O’Connell, Smith’s backup, prompted the Browns to trade Pickett to the Raiders in late August.

The Browns have other quarterbacks on the expanded roster. Former New England Patriot Bailey Zappe is on the practice squad and would presumably be called up if Cleveland wants to carry three active quarterbacks.

There is also three-time Pro Bowler Deshaun Watson, who is on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list as he rehabs an Achilles’ tendon tear from October 2024 that he then re-ruptured in January 2025. After Week 6, the Browns will have 21 days to decide if they want to promote Watson to the active roster. If they do not promote him, he will remain on the PUP list for the rest of the season and be ineligible to play.