Browns name Flacco starter for Week 1

Quarterback Joe Flacco will start in the Cleveland Browns' season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals, the team announced Monday.

The 40-year-old gets the role after offensive coordinator Tommy Rees said in June that Flacco, Kenny Pickett, Shedeur Sanders, and Dillon Gabriel were in a four-man competition under center.

Cleveland signed Flacco to a one-year, $4-million contract in April. He spent the 2024 season with the Indianapolis Colts, throwing for 1,761 yards with 12 touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Flacco already spent time in Cleveland, having joined the Browns' practice squad in the middle of the 2023 campaign and starting the final five games of the regular season. He went 4-1 over that span to take the Browns to the playoffs and eventually won the Comeback Player of the Year award.

The veteran didn't suit up for Cleveland's first two preseason contests, as the team opted to start its rookies, Sanders and Gabriel, for one game each. Pickett, whom the Browns acquired in a trade from the Philadelphia Eagles, has not participated in team drills since injuring his hamstring in late July.

The Baltimore Ravens selected Flacco in the first round of the 2008 draft. He's thrown for over 45,000 yards during his 17-year NFL career and was the MVP of Super Bowl XLVII, when the Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers.