Browns sign Joe Flacco to active roster with incentive-heavy contract
Dec. 14—Now Joe Flacco really has incentive to take the Browns deep into the playoffs.
Flacco was elevated from the practice squad to the 53-man roster on Dec. 14 after signing a contract that binds him to the Browns the rest of the season, the team announced.
Spotrac.com reported the base contract is for $370,800. Adam Schefter of ESPN reported the more the Browns win, the more the contract's worth will grow.
Four games remain in the regular season. Flacco will make an additional $75,000 for each game the Browns win, according to Schefter. He will make an additional $250,000 if the Browns win a wild-card game. $500,000 for a divisional playoff victory, $1 million if the Browns win the AFC championship and $2 million more if they win the Super Bowl.
"He's getting back into the groove and starting to feel confident in the play calls and what we're asking those guys to do," offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said. "And it showed whatever little rust he had looked like it's knocked off. Now he's playing at a high level again. Like the way he's seeing the field. And his ability again to be accurate at all three levels has been impressive."
Deshaun Watson suffered a season-ending right shoulder fracture on Nov. 12. Flacco was signed to the practice squad eight days later after the Browns concluded they wouldn't have sustained success with P.J. Walker and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson as their only quarterbacks.
Flacco remained on the practice squad six days later, but he was elevated from the practice squad to the active roster on the Saturday before each of the last two games. The Browns lost to the Rams and beat the Jaguars in the two games Flacco started.
"Nothing feels really different, but I'm excited," he said. "They don't have to bounce me around. I was mostly unaware of all of that stuff (contract details) anyhow."
Flacco totaled five touchdown passes in two starts. Watson leads the team with seven TD passes in five games plus a brief appearance as a starter in the Colts game before aggravating his shoulder injury (prior to fracturing it) in the first quarter.
Flacco's contract is only for the rest of the 2023 season. It means he will be a free agent when the season ends and that Watson will be the undisputed starter next season.
