Cleveland Browns cannot afford to keep starting Joe Flacco at QB

The Cleveland Browns remain stuck in quarterback purgatory. But that doesn't mean the season needs to be a total wash before we even reach the month of October.

Joe Flacco saved the season in 2023 and got the Browns back into the postseason. The ultimate end result was an ugly loss to the Houston Texans in the Wild Card round, but it was more about the journey than the destination. Fast forward to 2025 and Flacco looks like a shell of not only his overall former self, but his 2023 self as well.

Sunday's 34-10 loss to the Detroit Lions marked another dreadful Flacco performance and easily his worst of the season. The stats show he went a putrid 16-34 for 184 yards with zero touchdowns and two interceptions. The first interception was thrown right to the defense, and set the tone for the remainder of what became a painful game for Browns fans.

Intercepted by Kerby Joseph

CLEvsDET on FOX/FOX Onehttps://t.co/HkKw7uXnxV pic.twitter.com/OPdf0ljn1r
— NFL (@NFL) September 28, 2025

Yes, Flacco was without his expected starting tackles in Dawand Jones and Jack Conklin. The former is out for the year and the latter can't seem to get healthy. Still, Flacco looks like a statue out there and opposing defenses continue to exploit his lack of mobility. His receivers messing up routes and dropping passes is not helping either.

He now has two touchdowns and six interceptions through four games, while the Browns miraculously sit at 1-3 instead of 0-4 thanks to the Week 3 comeback against the Green Bay Packers. Now, all the good vibes from that upset seem to have evaporated.

The next man up is rookie third-round pick Dillon Gabriel. He made a brief appearance in Detroit, throwing an incompletion in garbage time.

There seems to be an argument that if Gabriel replaces Flacco, there is no going back to the veteran. Why does that have to be the case? Gabriel was not drafted as a potential franchise quarterback. He was taken in the third round after the Browns acquired an extra first-round pick, seemingly gearing up for the 2026 class of signal-callers.

Thus, Gabriel can start in order to hopefully provide some sort of spark for this offense. If he is visibly not ready, Flacco should be able to step right back in without any drama and we are back to the current situation. What seems to make less sense is to continue starting Flacco and not see what is had in Gabriel and even Shedeur Sanders. That would create questions heading into 2026 when the team may want to draft a high-end rookie quarterback.

Kevin Stefanski seemingly gave a non-answer when discussing his quarterback situation. A key concern is that the game is in London, which may be a challenging scenario for Gabriel to make his first start.

I asked Kevin Stefanski if he continues to believe Joe Flacco gives the offense and team its best chance to win.

A: “It's never going to be about one person. It's just not and we're not doing a good enough job. I'll put myself in there as well. We have to be better.“
— Daniel Oyefusi (@DanielOyefusi) September 28, 2025

Yet one could ask Stefanski if it's even worth making the trip if the offense is to remain the same for another week. The defense is elite, but can only do so much if the offense is incapable of scoring even 20 points with Flacco leading the way.