Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco submitted an early nomination for quote of the year on Wednesday when discussing how much older he is than some of his teammates.
Flacco with one of the best quotes of the year on his role in this locker room.
— Zac Jackson (@AkronJackson) January 3, 2024
“If I messed up in high school, I could be some of these guys’ dads.”
Flacco will turn 39 years old on Jan. 16, just one day after NFL wild-card weekend comes to a close. The Browns have secured a playoff spot and are locked into the No. 5 seed in the AFC, meaning that they'll have a road game in the opening round.
According to ESPN, the former Super Bowl MVP signal-caller is the oldest player on the Cleveland roster and the only other 38-year-old is offensive tackle Ty Nsekhe. No other Browns player is older than 33 and the team has six 22-year-olds (all of them rookies).
On offense, the team has tackle Dawand Jones and center Luke Wypler out of Ohio State and on defense, safety Ronnie Hickman is a Buckeyes product as well. Cornerback Cameron Mitchell (Northwestern), defensive end Isaiah McGuire (Missouri) and linebacker Mohamoud Diabate (Utah) are all 22-year-old rookies too.
Per Pro Football Reference, Flacco is the seventh-oldest active player in the NFL. Seattle Seahawks offensive tackle Jason Peters is the oldest and will turn 42 on Jan. 22.
As he makes a run for a possible AP Comeback Player of the Year award, the 2008 first-round pick will get a chance to rest in Week 18. Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski announced on Wednesday that, because the team can't move out of the fifth seed, Flacco and other starters will sit out the contest.
Instead, Cleveland will start 30-year-old journeyman Jeff Driskel under center. The former sixth-round draft pick will become the fifth different starting quarterback for Cleveland this season.
Browns will join the 1984 Bears as the only @NFL teams to make the playoffs with FIVE different starting QB.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) January 3, 2024
Browns will be the 6th team to start 5 QB in a season. Three teams did it during the 1987 strike season.
(Thanks, @DanteKopFlem at @NFLResearch)
The only other team to start 5 QBs in a non-replacement player season since starts began being tracked in 1950 was the 1961 Bills. The 1987 Patriots are only team to win games with 5 starting QBs (including 1 replacement player) https://t.co/asiVu1P83E
— Josh Dubow (@JoshDubowAP) January 3, 2024
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