Stephen A. Smith sounds off on Mike Tomlin's reaction to Joe Flacco trade

Mike Tomlin came to criticize the Browns most recent move of trading away Joe Flacco, see what Stephen A. Smith had to say about Tomlin's comments.

Oct 23, 2024; Inglewood, California, USA; Stephen A. Smith (Stephen Smith) on the ESPN NBA Countdown live set at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

After the Cleveland Browns' loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers, head coach Mike Tomlin went to the podium and criticized the Browns' most recent move to trade Joe Flacco away to a divisional opponent. 

This is what Tomlin had to say about the Browns trading away Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals, who are suffering from Joe Burrow’s toe injury and subpar QB play from backup Jake Browning:

"Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us because it doesn't make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening-day starter to a division opponent that's hurting in that area, but that's just my personal feelings."

This topic came up on ESPN's "First Take," where Stephen A. Smith gave his take on Tomlin’s comments.

“I think he’s right about what he’s saying,” Smith exclaimed.

“But why should the Browns be concerned about where he’s going, it's all about the assets that you get what you’re looking for. You got Joe Flacco, what can you get for him? Let's say you got somebody desperate enough to give us a couple of pics for him. They're not thinking about the division moving forward, next year, or the year after.”

“We got an asset that we want to get rid of, what can we get in return for his services? It’s just that simple. So for Mike Tomlin to comment about it, I mean, he has every right to do it, I don’t think he’s wrong with what he’s saying because it isn’t normal, but the fact that it happened is not a big deal.”

Smith was asked if Tomlin’s comments on the manner were fair or not, and it seems he came to the conclusion that the whole manner is not that serious. Smith acknowledged that the interdivisional trade is an anomaly, but perhaps did not think about it deeply. 

The Browns' trading Flacco to the Bengals was the first trade between the Browns and Bengals since the Browns returned to the NFL in 1999.

Also, the fact that the interdivision trade with a quarterback has only happened two other times in this century. The trades include the Eagles trading Donovan McNabb to Washington in 2010 and the Patriots trading Drew Bledsoe to the Bills in 2001. 

Since Tomlin was correct in thinking that the trade was very rare and perhaps confusing, we will have to wait and see if Flacco can help the Bengals significantly throughout the season.