‘That’s the plan’: Browns QB Kenny Pickett makes bold proclamation after Cleveland signed Joe Flacco

Joe Flacco came in and helped the Cleveland Browns in a big way during the 2023 season. Last week, the Browns opted to bring back Flacco for a second stint with the team.

Cleveland gave Flacco a deal worth $4 million and he can earn up to $13 million with incentives. However, the starting job won’t be his from the jump. All signs point toward the Browns having an open competition for the job.

Trading for Kenny Pickett from the Philadelphia Eagles at the beginning of the offseason caught everyone by surprise. The former first-round pick hasn’t changed his stance on where he wants to be with the Browns following the addition of Flacco.

“That’s the plan, man (to start). I’m not going there to hang out,” Pickett told Jerry Dipaola of Trib Live. “I want to go play. I’m excited, been working hard for it, taking it a day at a time.”

Cleveland may end up in a situation where they ride Flacco as long as they can, then hand the job to Pickett for a bit, and eventually a rookie by the end of the year. The Browns want to win games but they’ll have to find out what they have in a rookie quarterback by the end of the season that they’re expected to draft at the end of the month.

Flacco is going to air the ball out the most and the offense will move the best with him. We have seen that in Cleveland and he fit well under Kevin Stefanski’s play-calling in 2023. The interceptions are where it could get dicey and if those become a thing happening too often, the Browns could move to Pickett. Pickett doesn’t turn the ball over as much but has never been one to air it out like Flacco still can at 40 years old.