With Deshaun Watson done for the year, here's the perfect trade that the Browns should offer the Colts for Joe Flacco.
The Cleveland Browns do not find themselves in a good spot heading into Week 8 of the 2024 campaign. Not only do they have a 1-6 record through their first six games, but they lost their starting quarterback Deshaun Watson for the rest of the season after he suffered a torn Achilles in Week 7. And now they have a matchup with the 5-2 Baltimore Ravens on their hands this weekend.
For the time being, the Browns will be rolling with a combination of Jameis Winston and Dorian Thompson-Robinson to fill in at starting quarterback, but they also could make a move to bring in a new face.
And with that in mind, it may make sense to reunite with old friend Joe Flacco, who is currently on the Indianapolis Colts. So let's check out the perfect trade offer the Browns could send the Colts if they want to bring Flacco back to town.
Browns receive: QB Joe Flacco
Colts receive: 2025 sixth-round pick
Flacco enjoyed a renaissance of sorts with the Browns last season, when he helped lead them to the playoffs by posting a 4-1 record over his five starts for the team. With Watson returning this season, though, the Browns opted to let Flacco leave in free agency, and he signed with the Colts to be Anthony Richardson's backup.
Still, Flacco has played in three games this season, and he's looked far better than Richardson when he's been on the field (71-for-108, 716 YDS, 7 TD, 1 INT). However, Indy is committed to Richardson as their quarterback of the future, which means that as long as he's healthy, he's going to be playing over Flacco for the foreseeable future.
With Flacco continuing to play well, the Colts could flip him ahead of the trade deadline for some extra draft capital. While Flacco is 39 years old, any draft picks would help Indy out, and this deal would see the Browns send over their own sixth-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft in exchange for Flacco.
At 1-6, the Browns almost certainly aren't making the playoffs, which could make trading for Flacco seem foolish. However, Watson's future with the team, and really in the NFL as a whole, is up in the air after he struggled mightily during his time on the field this season, so Cleveland could conceivably be hunting for their own quarterback of the future this upcoming offseason.
Bringing Flacco back to town to act as a bridge quarterback for whoever that ends up being could be a smart move for the team. Flacco has experience in Cleveland's system, and while they did just trade away their top wide receiver in Amari Cooper, there is still plenty of talent on the offensive side of the ball to help him out.
Flacco would be 40 years old next season, and it remains to be seen how much longer he wants to play football. He's still playing at a pretty high level, though, and he would immediately be an upgrade over both Winston and Thompson-Robinson.
That won't mean much this season, but using him as a potential starter next year while they develop their new quarterback of the future behind the scenes could be a strategy worth exploring.
Of course, considering how much money they have invested in Watson, there's a chance Cleveland sticks with him and opts to just play out the rest of the season with their current quarterback depth chart. But for the price of a sixth-round pick, it'd be worth bringing Flacco back to town in an effort to help the team at least play decent football over the remainder of the season.
For the Colts, they are committed to Richardson, so landing any sort of draft capital for Flacco could be helpful. Of course, they signed him with the intent of having him fill in for Richardson when needed, and to this point, he's done a pretty good job.
Given the struggles Richardson has endured this season, they may not necessarily be in a rush to move on from the veteran quarterback at this point.
If Cleveland was willing to part with their own sixth-round pick in the 2025 draft, which will likely come in towards the front of the round, that could be all it takes to convince Indy to move Flacco.
It won't drastically change the outcome of their current campaign, but it could give the team some options at quarterback moving forward, and considering how awful Watson looked before he suffered this serious injury, this is a move that the Browns should seriously look into making.
