The Cleveland Browns are loaded with draft capital in the 2026 NFL Draft, holding two first-rounders and nine overall picks as they look to reload this offseason with young talent.
Cleveland has been quite open with trades to get extra draft capital, being one of the more active teams to acquire and flip Day 3 draft picks. One trade they made last season to acquire draft capital was a rare in-division trade with the Cleveland Browns for quarterback Joe Flacco.
Wanting to move forward with their younger
signal-callers, the Browns were hoping to deal Flacco, and the Bengals needed a quarterback following Joe Burrow’s injury.
With the draft here, let’s revisit that trade and see how it fared for both sides.
Original terms for the Joe Flacco trade from the Brwons to the Bengals
- Cincinnati Bengals receive: QB Joe Flacco, 2026 sixth-round draft pick (No. 199)
- Cleveland Browns receive: 2026 fifth-round draft pick (No. 146)
What did the Browns do with the pick from the Joe Flacco trade?
Meanwhile, the Browns got Cincinnati’s fifth-round pick, which was near the top of the fifth round. At pick 149…
How did Joe Flacco play for the Browns and Bengals in 2025?
Flacco started the first four games for the Browns before being dealt. In those starts, he went 1-3, throwing for 815 yards, two touchdowns, and six interceptions, while completing only 58.1 percent of his passes.
In addition to the six picks, he also lost two fumbles. So, it wasn’t a great start in Cleveland, making sense why the Browns wanted to deal him.
After being traded to Cincinnati, Flacco started six more games, going 1-5 in those games, while throwing for 1,636 yards (272.7 yards per game), 13 touchdowns, and 4 interceptions. He also lost a fumble.
In those six games, the offense averaged over 27 points a contest and lost two games to the Jets and the Bears because of ugly defensive miscues. Flacco did have some big games, including a 342-yard and three-touchdown performance in a 33-31 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
He also had 470 yards, four touchdowns, and two interceptions in the 47-42 last-minute loss to the Chicago Bears. But Cincinnati fell to 3-8 after his six starts, making it an uphill climb from there upon Joe Burrow’s return.
What did the Bengals do with the selection from their Joe Flacco pick swap?
The Browns sent over a sixth-round pick they received from the Detroit Lions in a previous trade to the Bengals in this deal. We will update when the Bengals pick 199th.
Who won the Joe Flacco trade between the Browns and Bengals?
For Cleveland, the move made a ton of sense. Flacco wasn’t a part of the team’s plans, and his departure allowed them to take a deeper look into both of their rookie quarterbacks last year.
To get something in return for him after a rough start to the season was a win, even if it was to a division rival. The Browns weren’t looking to compete last season, so it doesn’t matter who they made the deal with.
Here, they jumped up 55 spots to get rid of a player who wasn’t going to make much of an impact for them the rest of the season.
