It was certainly a surprise when Joe Flacco was traded to the Cincinnati Bengals, but it was a move that Cleveland Browns General manager Andrew Berry did out of good faith.
When veteran quarterback Joe Flacco was traded from the Cleveland Browns to the inter-state rival Cincinnati Bengals, it sent shockwaves across the NFL.
The Browns had a crowded quarterback room led by Flacco and followed by rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, but after Flacco committed a league-high eight turnovers, coach Kevin Stefanski opted to bench the veteran.
From there, General Manager Andrew Berry wanted to at least do right by his veteran.
According to MMQB’s Albert Breer, Berry approached Flacco and informed him that he was happy to trade him elsewhere, if he was open to getting an opportunity elsewhere.
When he asked Flacco his thoughts on the gesture, the 40-year old genuinely appreciated it.
"Now I don't know if they would've done it anyway, if I wasn't interested," he said. "If I said, 'No, I really don't want to do that, guys,' I don't know if they would've said, 'OK, yeah, that's cool, we won't do it then. But it did seem like Andrew was like, 'Listen, man, we appreciate what you've done. Would this be something you'd be open to?' So we had a conversation about it, for sure."
The perfect opportunity arose for Flacco getting sent to the Cincinnati Bengals who are desperate to make a playoff run, even after losing franchise quarterback Joe Burrow to a toe injury.
Along with that, the Bengals tried hard to make backup quarterback Jake Browning work, but he underperformed tremendously by throwing eight interceptions in three starts.
The move allowed him to significantly upgrade, giving him the option to throw to Pro Bowl weapons like Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
But one may wonder why would the Browns trade to the Bengals, especially since they were so close to each other in the standings?
You can argue that even though they were in the same position, the Browns were nowhere near being a playoff team.
Think about it: Cleveland’s best option was a 40-year old quarterback with a mostly unproven wide receiver corps. Sure Jerry Jeudy registered his first 1,000 yard season last season, and Cedric Tillman showed some promise, but there were no real improvements to the passing game.
So this was a way for the Browns to do right by a respected veteran and to build a reputation among the league that the organization treats its players with the proper respect.
It may not be something that Browns fans want to hear, but this team wasn’t a contender, nor was its offense good enough to hang with the big boys of the league.
Cleveland did the right thing for the now, but now it's time to build a winner for the future.