Did you feel it?
That rattling and rumbling sound. The Earth shifting slightly. What was it? Why did the dishes start to jangle and items on the desk begin to shift a bit? A fallen stapler.
That was Paul
Brown turning over in his grave. It seems, on Tuesday, October 7, 2025, the Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals made a player trade . It was the first ever in the history of the two-storied franchises.
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Brown coached the Browns for 16 years. He was only a small minority owner for parts of his tenure, but he acted like the team was his and was given free rein to do whatever he thought was best for the franchise. The team was named after him. He alone attended the owner’s meetings and was on various league committees. Under Coach Brown, Cleveland captured seven championships.
In 1962, new owner Art Modell fired him.
In 1967, Coach Brown was approached by the NFL-rival American Football League (AFL) to own an expansion club and was given four cities as options. He chose Cincinnati because he wanted to go back to Ohio; the city had just gotten the baseball Reds, and a new stadium was going to be built that could house both baseball and football contests.
Once the AFL and NFL merged in 1970, the Bengals and Browns were placed in the same division, and have been ever since. But Coach Brown kept grudges, and Cleveland was Number 1 on his list. His choice for uniforms was exactly the same as the Browns, except change out brown for black, and slap some letters on a blank orange helmet.
The unwritten rule in sports is that a team never, ever, ever makes a trade within the division, or conference, if possible. So, with Brown’s disdain for his former home, and the fact that Cincy and Cleveland played each other twice a year, not a single player has ever been made available, or attempted, or suggested.
But on October 7, the ground rumbled. It shook for 16 seconds, one for every year he was the head coach of the Browns. Cleveland and Cincinnati made a player trade: QB Joe Flacco and a sixth-round draft pick to Cincy, for a fifth-round draft pick.
Why did the Browns trade Flacco?
The Bengals lost their starting quarterback, Joe Burrow, early in the Week 2 game against the Jacksonville Jaguars. The next day, it was revealed he had suffered a metatarsophalangeal joint sprain, commonly known as turf toe, that was described as significant ligament damage. It required surgery, and Burrow was placed on IR.
His absence crippled the Bengals’ season. Cincinnati thought they had a capable backup with Jake Browning, but he has been horrible in the few games he has played. After starting 2-0-0, the team has now lost three straight. With Browning under center, he has already thrown five interceptions in three starts as the team has scored a mere three points against the Denver Broncos and 10 points in the Minnesota Vikings’ loss.
The Bengals hope that Flacco can right their ship. He is a seasoned veteran playing in his 18th year. He has thrown for 46,512 yards with 259 touchdowns in his career.
But the Browns had benched him. Flacco was the starter in the first four games, in which Cleveland went 1-3-0 and had problems scoring points. The Browns’ offense is also horrible, currently ranked #21 in passing yards and #24 in total rushing yards.
Rookie Dillon Gabriel had only tossed four passes all season in mop-up situations when he was given the start in Week 5 against the Vikings played in London. He finished the game going 19-33 for 190 yards, two TD passes, zero picks, sacked twice, a 5.8 average yards per reception, and a QB rating of 39.0. Gabriel also rushed twice for five yards.
And yet, this very vanilla game by Gabriel suddenly stoked the Browns coaching staff to decide to trade the only quarterback on the current roster who had any meaningful starts. Flacco has 195 NFL starts. Gabriel has one. Fellow rookie Shedeur Sanders has zero. Practice squad QB Bailey Zappe has nine in three seasons.
Why did the Browns trade Flacco?
Yes, the Bengals need a veteran like Flacco if they are to save their season. Their offensive line is not very good, so we will see what Flacco can do. But he could be good at exiting a collapsed pocket and still look downfield for an open receiver before taking off and running.
Flacco going to the Bengals is the same reason the Browns had brought Flacco back this past offseason: To provide veteran leadership to a crowded quarterback room. On the surface, bringing in Flacco makes sense. He has plenty of experience and will immediately run a version of Cincinnati head coach Zac Taylor’s offense.
Why did the Browns trade Flacco?
Cleveland wasn’t exactly lighting it up offensively. They still have not scored more than 20 points in any game, no matter who the quarterback has been.
And really, what will a fifth-round draft pick do for this team? For one, it does nothing for the roster this year. And if Gabriel stumbles, and Sanders is really not Superman, as all of social media is stating, wouldn’t the coaching staff be happy that they kept an 18-year veteran?
Gabriel does offer being a better runner than Flacco, who only ran when he had to. So does Sanders, who is an exciting scrambler. Over his career, Flacco has 392 carries for 903 yards and scored 16 touchdowns. That is over 17+ seasons. But break that down. That is just 21.7 rushes per year, for only 50.2 yards a season.
At the college level, the rookie Gabriel had 424 rushes for 1,209 yards and scored 33 rushing touchdowns. While Flacco is only crossing the line of scrimmage when flushed, then running when all of his receivers are covered, Gabriel is coming out of the pocket and taking off like we have seen with the likes of Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen.
Why did the Browns trade Flacco?
Cleveland’s coaching staff has had only two small samplings of Gabriel. He came in with just over four minutes in Week 2 after the Baltimore Ravens were killing the Browns. Gabriel went 3-3 for 19 yards and threw a TD pass. Then, the full game against the Vikings.
That has been it. Does the coaching staff really believe this rookie is the answer in the future, after these two live games?
Granted, Gabriel lit it up in college. He was a First Team All-American and First Team All-Big 10. He was voted the Big 10 Quarterback of the Year. He was named the Big 10 Offensive Player of the Year. He was elected the Big 10 Most Valuable Player. Gabriel broke or tied three NCAA records.
However, the NFL is not the same as college. Players are grown men. They are bigger, faster, work out all year round, have families, and home mortgages. They don’t have to worry about studies and girlfriends and parties and parking tickets. Their studies are the game of football.
Perhaps if Gabriel had tossed four touchdown passes, run for another, thrown for almost 400 yards with no interceptions, and the Browns not only won his first start, but the offense moved the ball up and down the field and scored just shy of 40 points, folks could understand the trade. With that, Browns fans might state that perhaps this franchise doesn’t need Flacco going forward. Finally, the Browns have found a quarterback.
But Cleveland had eight punts in the Minnesota game. 140 total yards rushing. 190 passing yards. One field goal attempt. In the fourth quarter alone, the possessions were punt, punt, punt, punt, end of game on downs. Four of these five possessions were just three plays.
There wasn’t any offense. On their second-to-last possession, they punted with 3:16 remaining in the game, holding a 17-14 lead. All the offense had to do was convert two first downs, and the game was over. Instead, an eight-man defensive box was used for the usual runs that were stuffed instead. Why not come out in a four-receiver lineup and spread the defense out? Yes, an incompletion stops the clock. But getting six yards here, then seven yards there, and the defense can’t stuff the line of scrimmage, knowing that the Browns would be running it every down in order to milk the clock. With Gabriel running outside to throw, he would have the option to sling the ball or take off. With his legs, needing six yards would be nothing when the defenders are spread out everywhere.
All the Vikings did was go down the field and score the go-ahead touchdown. Their offense knew what had to be done.
So, something is amiss. There is no way this coaching staff took this one game with Gabriel at the helm, and afterwards said, “You know, let’s keep the kid, maybe throw in Shedeur, and get rid of Flacco.”
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Does that make any sense whatsoever?
For the last time, why did the Browns trade Flacco?
The move opens up the door for a return of Deshaun Watson.
Since the middle of training camp, Watson has been at the Berea facility working out. He was placed on the PUP list on August 26, the same day the final cutdown to 53-man rosters was announced.
The former Three-Time Pro ͏Bowler is inching closer ͏to returning to practice ͏and possibly starting again before the season͏ ends. With Flacco on the roster, that not only complicated matters but also hindered Watson’s return as the absolute starting QB. Watson is guaranteed a salary of $46 million this year, and the front office doesn’t want to see that go to waste and get nothing in return.
On social media, Watson stated:
“Everyone is doubting me; everyone don’t believe in me. Everyone don’t think I can get back to where I was. But I know, and I believe the work that I put in, that I believe in myself… I know, I’m gonna be way better than before.”
Watson ruptured his Achilles tendon in the second quarter against the Bengals in Week 7 last season. The injury required surgery. His timeline to return was sometime during this year’s training camp. Instead, he reinjured the ailment while he was in the rehab process.
The Browns had a window to get Watson off the PUP list before the Vikings game, but decided to keep him listed. That could change at any time. Once they remove him from the list, he would then be eligible to begin practicing, the team would then have 21 days to activate him to the roster or place him on IR for the season.
Former Browns offensive lineman John Greco went on the “The Ken Carman Show” and stated he believes Watson will start again – this year:
And when Watson begins to practice, he will become the most experienced signalcaller in the room. Head coach Kevin Stefanski has always valued experience.
Is it really possible that the Browns traded Flacco to make way for their “big swing and miss” quarterback?
