Browns QB Joe Flacco Reveals HC Kevin Stefanski's Honest Truth About His Role

Veteran quarterback Joe Flacco is excited for opportunity to compete for Cleveland Browns starting job

Joe Flacco meets with the media at the start of the Cleveland Browns offseason program | S-encer German

Joe Flacco's return to Cleveland has come with plenty of fanfare from Browns fans over the last couple of weeks, with many expecting the 41-year-old to reclaim the starting quarterback job leading into 2025.

By the time the season kicks off that very well may be the case, but Flacco isn't expected to just be handed the job either. Over the next several months he'll be engaged in a heated QB competition with Kenny Pickett and a potential rookie.

It's a situation Flacco was well aware of when he decided to re-sign with the Browns.

"We have no preconceived notions of who's gonna be the starting quarterback," Flacco said of what head coach Kevin Stefanski communicated to him before signing. "We want to put together a good room and have good competition and see what comes of it."

Flacco certainly has a leg up on his competitors, considering he has played in Stefanski's offense before and had a lot of success in it to boot.

Flacco joined the Browns out of free agency in Week 12 of the 2023 campaign, and proceeded to lead Cleveland on a 4-1 stretch to close out the season, clinching a wild card berth in the process.

Two years later, he gets to try and replicate those successes, but he's going to have to earn the starting job first. Stefanski believes the competition will bring out the best in Flacco and all the QBs who eventually make up their room.

"I look at competition as a really good thing," Stefanski said. "I think it's a really good thing, especially when you like the guys that are competing for the job like we do. So I think it only elevates everybody's play."

That competition begins immediately, with the team beginning their offseason work at the team facility this week. It will culminate in Stefanski and company choosing a starter by the end of the preseason in August.