Joe Flacco's age difference with Browns teammates leads to possible quote of the year
Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco submitted an early nomination for quote of the year on Wednesday when discussing how much older he is than some of his teammates.
Flacco will turn 39 years old on Jan. 16, just one day after NFL wild-card weekend comes to a close. The Browns have secured a playoff spot and are locked into the No. 5 seed in the AFC, meaning that they'll have a road game in the opening round.
According to ESPN, the former Super Bowl MVP signal-caller is the oldest player on the Cleveland roster and the only other 38-year-old is offensive tackle Ty Nsekhe. No other Browns player is older than 33 and the team has six 22-year-olds (all of them rookies).
On offense, the team has tackle Dawand Jones and center Luke Wypler out of Ohio State and on defense, safety Ronnie Hickman is a Buckeyes product as well. Cornerback Cameron Mitchell (Northwestern), defensive end Isaiah McGuire (Missouri) and linebacker Mohamoud Diabate (Utah) are all 22-year-old rookies too.
Per Pro Football Reference, Flacco is the seventh-oldest active player in the NFL. Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle Jason Peters is the oldest and will turn 42 on Jan. 22.
As he makes a run for a possible AP Comeback Player of the Year award, the 2008 first-round pick will get a chance to rest in Week 18. Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski announced on Wednesday that, because the team can't move out of the fifth seed, Flacco and other starters will sit out the contest.
Instead, Cleveland will start 30-year-old journeyman Jeff Driskel under center. The former sixth-round draft pick will become the fifth different starting quarterback for Cleveland this season.
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