While the Patriots are desperate at quarterback, the Browns bump into Joe Flacco

COMMENTARY

On the one hand, the Patriots seem poised to land either the first or second pick in next spring’s draft, giving the franchise a prime opportunity to secure one of the country’s top quarterbacking talents. Because as Sunday reiterated, with a 27-17 loss to the Chiefs in Foxborough, New England isn’t going to be able to compete with the Patrick Mahomeses of the NFL without a Patrick Mahomes of its own. 

On the other hand though, Joe Flacco. 

This is not to suggest that washed-up veteran quarterbacks are the cure-all for playoff-hopeful teams in desperate need of a starter. Put the 38-year-old Flacco on the Patriots and maybe they’re a 6-7 win team. Then again, name anyone but Mac Jones the starter and you might be sniffing .500. 

It can be frustrating to watch from afar. The Patriots can’t get any sort of consistency out of either Jones or Bailey Zappe and somehow the Cleveland Browns, of all teams, found magic in the arm of Joe Flacco. The Browns, armed with one of the league’s top defenses, lost gazillionaire starter DeShaun Watson for the season and then decided that whatever they got out of PJ Walker or Dorian Thompson Robinson at the position was so bad that someone like Flacco couldn’t do any worse. What’s happened instead is a unique re-birth of a career with a team that is suddenly the darling of middle-aged men everywhere. 

When it comes to Flacco Magic, Patriot fans shouldn’t be asking, “Why not us?” Tom Brady himself would probably step off the practice field with this same collection of talent and place an immediate apology call to Joey Galloway (“I thought you were bad, but you should see this.)  Flacco hasn’t exactly set Cleveland on fire, but he’s looked better than anything in New England this season. 

Flacco came up big when it mattered most on Sunday, leading a fourth-quarter comeback over the Chicago Bears. It was the sort of veteran performance the Browns could only have dreamed of from a middling quarterback pushing 40, flying directly in the face of the overwhelming majority that insists the quarterback is the hub of everything else on the football field. Without one of the country’s best, you’re always going to be playing catch-up. Good luck hitting the lottery, or you might be employing the rotating door used for decades in spots like Miami and Chicago. 

Ironically, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick must love the current iteration of the team he used to coach 30 years ago: a squad with a solid defense, good running game, and a forgettable name and face at quarterback. Maybe it was what he was trying to build back up here in the wake of Brady’s departure four years ago. The defense is decent, but coaching has been a mishmash of poorly-planned personnel, and the quarterback play has been among the worst in the league. 

Joe Flacco wouldn’t have fixed this. Nor should his success in Cleveland prompt any sort of league-wide search for resurrecting presumably-dead careers. But, you mean to tell me that after all the terrible quarterback play we’ve seen across the NFL this season, nobody even gave Flacco, who was working out and expressed interest to teams, a chance to work out before Cleveland came calling? How many times did the Patriots have to sign and release Malik Cunnigham, Matt Corral, and Will Grier before it ever occurred to them that a veteran might be out there worth employing? 

As aggravating as it can be for Patriot fans to witness, there should be some rooting interest when it comes to Flacco and the Browns. At the very least, their success helps outline what the Patriots need to know; no matter what they decide to do with their first-round pick next spring, the team desperately needs a veteran quarterback at the helm.

Caleb Williams. Drake May. Bo Nix. Jayden Daniels. If any of them wind up starting for the Patriots in 2024, the team risks turning him into Bryce Young, the No. 1 overall pick who has had a nightmare rookie season in Carolina. Joe Flacco isn’t going to fix this either. But it is something that somebody like Baker Mayfield can manage just as guys like Geno Smith are keeping teams viable in the present even as they re-tool for the future. There are so many examples for how to do this wrong, how to waste your draft capital in the name of the hype machine. Williams might be the next John Elway. He might be the next Trevor Lawrence. He also might be the next Zach Wilson. 

Or — shudder — Mac Jones. 

Besides, with such an emphasis being placed on the quarterback, a position Belichick tends to give less attention to than a beachside cabin doorbell camera, shouldn’t we pay more attention to guys like Brock Purdy, system quarterbacks who are only as good as the talent around them? That’s exactly how people described Brady’s limitations in the early portion of his career.

That isn’t to say Purdy is the next Brady, but there is something to be said for the competitive gene present in both. Are teams better off getting a quarterback who has to claw and prove his way or one that comes at the top of his draft class and might want part equity in the franchise? 

At the very least, Joe Flacco might make you want tackle Joe Alt or receiver Marvin Harrison, Jr. with that pick next spring. Because when you have the right mix of talent, even a journeyman can help make a playoff push. 

The Patriots are a few years away from finally putting that recipe back together. Tell Flacco we’ll keep his number on file though.  

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