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Shedeur Sanders, Ja'Marr Chase and more top Joe Flacco trade winners and losers
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- Shedeur Sanders, Ja'Marr Chase and more top Joe Flacco trade winners and losers
The Cincinnati Bengals ' moment of desperation has arrived.
With the team sliding to 2-3 after backup Jake Browning once again floundered in a blowout, coach Zac Taylor on Monday left open the possibility of a change at quarterback. One problem: There weren't any viable in-house options to take over for Browning, who stepped in with Joe Burrow sidelined until at least December with a turf toe injury. That prompted Cincinnati to turn to the trade market, with the team moving Tuesday to acquire Joe Flacco from the Cleveland Browns .
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The first major move ahead of next month's trade deadline had plenty of fallout for a number of parties. But who were the biggest winners and losers in the deal? Here's how we see it all shaking out:
Winners
Joe Flacco
Quite the escape hatch here for the 40-year-old, who was benched last week for third-round rookie Dillon Gabriel . Stepping into a new system with little prep time and only the faintest notion of keeping things afloat until Burrow comes back is hardly glamorous work. But it's a return to action nonetheless for a player who otherwise had essentially no hope of seeing the field again for a Browns team finally embracing its full-on youth movement. He'll get to work with immensely talented receivers in Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins , and his penchant for throwing interceptions might be somewhat forgiven so long as he gives the aerial attack an actual chance to thrive downfield. And expectations are minimal given how poorly things went for Browning in his latest attempt at holding down the fort.
Bengals
Well, it's something. Flacco might not be the first name that outsiders conjured up when imagining whom Cincinnati might pursue as a ringer. But after the Bengals suffered their worst loss in franchise history in Browning's first start against the Minnesota Vikings and then dropped two more laughers, trudging on was a non-starter. Any dreams of a full-on revival still look far-fetched, but with a largely manageable schedule down the stretch – there are only three matchups in the final 10 games against teams that currently have winning records – the season isn't fully lost just yet.
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Shedeur Sanders
With Flacco gone, Sanders seemingly is set to be elevated to Gabriel's backup. That's a substantial step given that he remained the emergency quarterback even at a time when Cleveland conceded that this season would be defined by the performance of its rookie class. And given that Sanders was essentially a non-factor in the offseason quarterback competition, he's close to holding some actual relevance in Year 1 beyond his words – or lack thereof . Don't expect Kevin Stefanski and Co. to have a short leash with Gabriel, but an injury – or late-season derailment – could provide the window for Sanders to see his first snaps.
Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins
Months after securing the bag with their monster extensions, the Bengals receivers were left holding it in the aftermath of Burrow's injury. But there was only so much that Chase and Higgins could do to prop up an offense that went 19 consecutive possessions without a touchdown until things opened up in garbage time against the Lions . Flacco should be given a fairly straightforward directive as he takes over: as often as possible, point at either target and shoot. That's as good as the duo can hope for given how the last three weeks shook out.
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NFL broadcast partners
The Bengals were bordering on irrelevance as Browning continued to flounder. Yet they were locked into a Week 7 "Thursday Night Football" matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers that now promises intrigue even if it falls well short of being an actually compelling game. Perhaps the bigger question for the broadcast schedule: Can Flacco make the Thanksgiving capper against the similarly struggling Baltimore Ravens at least a little bit compelling, or will everyone merely doze off early instead of taking in what was supposed to be a compelling grudge match?
Micah Parsons
The Green Bay Packers ' star pass rusher is set to square off Sunday against a 40-year-old quarterback with miniscule mobility ... who has a few days to acclimate to a new team, coaching staff and playbook ... while operating behind the Bengals' infamously shoddy offensive line. Happy hunting.
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Losers
Jake Browning
The writing seemed to be on the wall when Taylor left open the possibility of a quarterback change on Monday. But a player once thought to be one of the league's better stopgap solutions after his impressive 2023 campaign filling in for Burrow now has taken a serious status hit. After he helped engineer a win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in coming off the bench in Week 2, Browning credited a "delusional" approach to driving his final-drive success despite his three previous interceptions on the day. But maybe what was truly delusional was expecting him to shoulder anywhere near the load Burrow does, as things quickly came crashing down as Browning racked up eight interceptions – just one off the league lead.
Russell Wilson , Jameis Winston and the veteran QB trade market
In-season quarterback trades tend to be few and far between given the difficulty of integrating a passer into a new setting on the fly. The Bengals, however, loomed as perhaps the one opportunity for a veteran to get back on his feet. Wilson or Winston would have provided some entertainment with their deep heaves in this offense, but Cincinnati went in a different route. Back to back-up life for the foreseeable future.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Flacco trade winners and losers led by Shedeur Sanders, Cincy WRs
