The Cleveland Browns officially signed Joe Flacco to their active roster on Thursday, ending his time on the team’s practice squad. And the veteran quarterback’s new one-year contract comes with several financial incentives.
Flacco will earn a base salary of $370,800 over the rest of the season with the Browns, according to Cleveland.com. Much more will be in store, though, if the former Super Bowl MVP can lead the Browns on a lengthy postseason run. Flacco can earn up to $4.05 million in incentives based on how many victories to which he leads the Browns, per ESPN. The 38-year-old is set to make $75,000 for each of the remaining four regular-season games he wins.
If Cleveland makes the postseason, Flacco would also make $250,000 for a Wild Card win, $500,000 for a divisional round win, $1 million for a victory in the AFC Championship Game and $2 million for winning the Super Bowl.
Joe Flacco, #15 of the Cleveland Browns, on Sunday passes during the second quarter against the Jacksonville Jaguars at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio. Flacco has signed a one-year deal to be on the Browns’ 53-man roster for the rest of the season.
Jason Miller/Getty Images/Getty Images
Not that Flacco needs any financial motivation to get the Browns to the playoffs.
“I have no idea,” Flacco said with a smile to reporters on Thursday when asked how much money he’s earning with the Browns. “I haven’t looked at my bank account yet. I don’t even know if I’ve gotten a check yet.”
Joe Flacco has no idea how much money he’s playing for now that he’s signed a one-year deal. Doesn’t know how much money he’s made on the practice squad either.
Just happy to have the opportunity to be in Cleveland.#Browns pic.twitter.com/Bm5JGFkM0p
— Hayden Grove (@H_Grove) December 14, 2023
Newsweek reached out to Flacco’s representatives on Thursday via email for additional comment.
The Browns (8-5) are currently the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoff picture. Flacco, who has been with the team since late November, is the fourth starting quarterback for Cleveland this season.
Deshaun Watson was in and out of the lineup over the first half of the regular season before being shut down with a shoulder injury. P.J. Walker and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson started a combined five games this season in his place, though Flacco has been under center the past two weeks. That includes a 31-27 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars last weekend.
Flacco threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns, plus a pick, in Cleveland’s eighth win of the season. Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said after the game that the 16-year NFL veteran would start for Cleveland the rest of the season.
“Obviously performing at a high level earns respect, but I just think the way you work earns respect,” Stefanski said of Flacco earlier this week. “I’ve been around a lot of players, quarterbacks, running backs, whatever it is, the guys that work gain the respect of their teammates, and I think Joe just fits that mold.”
According to ESPN Stats & Information research, Flacco is just the fifth quarterback in NFL history to throw a combined five touchdown passes in his first two games with a new team.
Flacco spent 11 years tormenting the Browns during his time with the Baltimore Ravens. And he was previously the highest-paid player in the NFL after an elite Super Bowl run. The former first-round pick has jumped around since his Baltimore tenure ended. He started eight games for the Denver Broncos in 2019, then spent the last three seasons with the New York Jets.
Cleveland was the only team to give Flacco a shot to play this season.
“It’s coming along really well,” Browns receiver Amari Cooper said of playing with Flacco. “As everybody has probably observed at this point, he throws a really good ball. The prototypical-type quarterback. Tall, great arm, can look and read defenses. You know, he has a lot of great attributes, so I would say it’s going really well. I think the timing is impeccable. Obviously, you know, the sky’s the limit in terms of communication and things like that, but it’s looking good.”
Flacco will be a free agent once again in the spring. But he didn’t want to get caught up in talking about his future leading up to Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears.
The QB is focused on making the best of his latest opportunity.
“I just want to go out there and play my best and then see where that goes,” Flacco said at a press conference earlier this week. “I think I’ve been in enough situations now to realize that it may or may not be up to me. So, you just got to go out there and play and don’t take anything for granted.”
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