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Cleveland Browns sign QB Joe Flacco after losing Deshaun Watson for year
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- Cleveland Browns sign QB Joe Flacco after losing Deshaun Watson for year
Quarterback Joe Flacco has signed with the Cleveland Browns and will join the team's practice squad, the Browns announced Monday.
ESPN was the first to report Flacco would be signing, which will add veteran depth behind rookie quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson and P.J. Walker following the Deshaun Watson's season-ending shoulder injury . To make room on the roster, the team released WR Trinity Benson from the practice squad.
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Flacco brings 15 seasons of NFL experience to the Browns, who are the fifth team for the quarterback.
Flacco was a first-round pick by the Baltimore Ravens in the 2008 NFL draft (18th overall) and helped the team win Super Bowl 47 during the 2012 season, earning Super Bowl MVP honors. Flacco, who played 11 seasons for the Ravens, is the team's all-time leading passing yardage leader with 38,245 yards ( Lamar Jackson is second with 14,650). Flacco last played during the 2022 season, starting four games for the New York Jets .
In five games with the Jets last season, Joe Flacco threw for 1,051 yards with five touchdowns and three interceptions for a 75.2 passer rating.
In the wake of Watson's injury , Thompson-Robinson made his second career NFL start on Sunday in the Browns' 13-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers . Walker also made two starts earlier this season as Watson had been sidelined with a rotator cuff strain in his throwing shoulder.
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Thompson-Robinson, who played collegiately at UCLA, was a fifth-round pick by the Browns in the 2023 NFL draft . After going undrafted out of Temple in the 2017 NFL draft , Walker was a standout for the Houston Roughnecks during the 2020 XFL season , which was canceled after five games due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Walker then spent three seasons with the Carolina Panthers (making seven starts) before joining the Browns in August after being released by the Chicago Bears .
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Flacco signs with Cleveland Browns after Deshaun Watson injury
