The Cleveland Browns won four out of five games after signing QB Joe Flacco late in the 2023 season. They already lost Deshaun Watson for the season and cycled between two other options by then. A former Super Bowl MVP, he reached self-proclaimed elite status as the Baltimore Ravens’ quarterback for a decade.
So a Browns player approaching Flacco with a modicum of hesitation isn’t exactly a revelation. But TE David Njoku recently said—joked, more like—that he needed to verify he wasn’t a double agent first.
“I saw on Instagram that we got him. And then I saw him in the training room and I kind of sized him up, he said on Chris Long’s Green Light podcast. “He was on the Ravens for so many years. I think my rookie year he beat me. So I had to make sure that he wasn’t, like, an undercover op”.
The Browns drafted Njoku out of Miami in the first round in 2017, Flacco’s final season as full-time starter. The Ravens handily beat them twice that season, 24-10 in Week 2 and 27-10 in Week 15. Njoku caught a touchdown pass in the first game, but didn’t register a catch in the second.
But things went somewhat better as teammates years later. Of the 13 touchdowns Flacco threw in five starts, four went to Njoku—more than to Amari Cooper. In all, Flacco completed 30 of 45 pass attempts in Njoku’s direction for 390 yards.
“He was awesome, he was a blessing for sure”, Njoku said of the Comeback Player of the Year. “That chemistry happened just like that. It was almost like I knew when he was throwing it to me before the ball was even snapped. It was more like a feel”.
During his five starts in the regular season with the Browns, Flacco went 123-for-204 passing for 1,616 yards with 13 touchdowns to eight interceptions and a 90.2 passer rating. As mentioned earlier, they went 4-1 in those gams and earned a trip to the playoffs.
That’s where the fairy tale turned grim, however. The Houston Texans dominated them, returning two Flacco interceptions for touchdowns. In all, he went 34-for-46 for 307 yards, but just one touchdown to two interceptions. He did complete 7 of 11 to Njoku for 93 yards, though.
“Hopefully he stays in Cleveland”, the veteran tight end said. But apparently he prefers not to, presumably if he lands another opportunity. That’s because the Browns are locked into one of the worst contracts in NFL history with Watson.
Of course, Flacco won the Comeback Player of the Year Award because nobody cared about him anymore. He only wound up on the Browns because they grew desperate. The odds of him repeating the brief bits of magic he showed are low. He didn’t resurrect his career in Denver or New York. And how many people manage it in Cleveland, of all places? I doubt he continues his Indian Summer in Pittsburgh, as well.
