With a new face at backup quarterback, the Cleveland Browns began practice on Wednesday in anticipation of the Los Angeles Rams.
Assuming Dorian Thompson-Robinson fails to clear the NFL’s concussion protocol, Joe Flacco, who the Browns signed to the practice squad on November 20 and who hasn’t played a snap with any team this season, will start against the Rams at quarterback two.
According to head coach Kevin Stefanski, who made the largely expected announcement before the team’s practice at UCLA, this is the case:
Yes, we will address that during the course of the week. This week, Joe fills in as Dorian moves through the protocol. There’s no need to decide anything just yet. We’ll observe the outcome.
After taking a hard hit in the third quarter of last Sunday’s game versus the Denver Broncos, Thompson-Robinson had to leave. Despite taking the starter’s reps the previous few weeks, he did not practice on Wednesday. If he is unable to practice fully the rest of the week, it may be difficult to prepare him for the Rams.
Stefanski has also seen enough of P.J. Walker and his proclivity for turning the ball over (five interceptions and two interceptions) to move Flacco up a spot on the depth chart as the Browns are fighting to stay in the AFC playoff race.
Flacco brings plenty of experience to the role as he has made 180 starts in his 15-year career. But he has been in decline since his last season as a full-time starter with the Baltimore Ravens in 2017 and was available so late in the season for a reason.
Flacco will join Deshaun Watson, Thompson-Robinson, and Walker as the fourth quarterback to start a game for the Browns if (when?) he does. In the event that the Browns succeed in making the playoffs, they will become the first team since the Houston Texans in 2015 to accomplish that feat with four starting quarterbacks. That team, which finished 9-7 and lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Wild Card round, started quarterbacks Brian Hoyer, Ryan Mallett, TJ Yates, and Brandon Weeden.
