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Daniel Oyefusi
BEREA, Ohio — At 40 years previous, Joe Flacco is by far the elder statesman within the Cleveland Browns‘ quarterback room.
Flacco, although, reiterated that he’s not seeking to take a again seat and mentor the workforce’s younger passers however moderately to steer by instance in an try to win the quarterback competitors.
“It is probably not about that. It is simply not the principle focus,” Flacco stated Wednesday after the Browns’ second OTA observe. “I see myself as a man that may play on this league. So, in case your most important focus was similar to, hey, however I’ll get you prepared, you are simply not caring for enterprise. The easiest way to be a mentor, actually, is to point out folks the way you go to work and, like I stated, hope that they decide up on that stuff, however not essentially drive them to choose up on the issues that you just do.”
Flacco is certainly one of 4 wholesome quarterbacks, together with 2020 first-round decide Kenny Pickett and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, who’re vying for the Browns’ beginning job. Deshaun Watson stays sidelined by a proper Achilles harm that the workforce has stated will value him a good portion of the 2025 season.
In April, Flacco signed a one-year deal price $4 million to return to Cleveland, the place he gained the NFL’s Comeback Participant of the Yr award in 2023 and helped lead the Browns to the playoffs after being signed late within the season. Flacco spent the 2024 season with the Indianapolis Colts and went 2-4 as a starter.
“Joe bodily has been gifted with the power to throw the soccer. He seems to be the identical to me,” coach Kevin Stefanski stated. “… It is simply enjoyable having some veterans in that room, some younger guys within the quarterback room. They actually feed off of one another. And definitely, Joe has rather a lot to clarify to the blokes or a variety of knowledge to impart on these guys of issues which have come up in his profession.”
Throughout Wednesday’s observe, Flacco break up first-team reps in workforce drills with Pickett. The 2 had been then usually adopted by Gabriel after which Sanders in observe reps. Stefanski once more downplayed the importance of the reps and stated the order will range over the course of the offseason exercise program.
Pickett likened the presence of Flacco, who’s coming into his 18th NFL season, to that of a coach due to his huge expertise.
“It is like having one other coach when a man that is performed that a lot soccer, you might bounce concepts off of, ask him what he noticed, how he would learn sure issues earlier in his profession,” Pickett stated. “There’s simply so many issues, small issues that you could study. Simply having that standard, you understand, open dialogue that we’ve within the quarterback room.”
The Browns’ second OTA observe was a jam-packed session designed to maximise reps for every quarterback. At one level, the rookie quarterbacks performed workforce drills on one aspect of the sector whereas the veteran passers stayed on a separate subject to work.
Flacco, who was named Most Beneficial Participant of Tremendous Bowl XLVII after main the Baltimore Ravens to their second championship, stated he hasn’t been in a quarterback competitors since his sophomore yr of highschool. However he is having fun with the dynamic of the quarterbacks room and the youth of Sanders and Gabriel.
“Shedeur has been nice. I imply, he is a variety of enjoyable to be round in these assembly rooms,” Flacco stated. “I feel thus far, there’s been at the least as soon as within the assembly room that he is made me crack a smile, and that is what it is all about. You understand, he is a younger man making an attempt to study some soccer and are available out right here and observe effectively and do these issues. And like I stated, he is been a variety of enjoyable. I in all probability wasn’t too far-off from enjoying towards his dad, and now I am enjoying with him.”
