The Cincinnati Bengals made a massive trade for Joe Flacco. It was a desperate move since Joe Burrow is out with an enormous turf toe injury. Burrow had surgery and is expected to be out for three months after suffering the injury in Week 2. The Bengals needed a spark on offense with Jake Browning struggling, so bringing in Flacco should jumpstart this offense.
ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter was among the first to break the trade. He also noted that the trade makes unique history between the two Ohio-based NFL teams. It is the first trade between the two teams since the Browns moved back to Cleveland. They tried to make one in 2017 with AJ McCarron, but the paperwork was not filed in time. This trade has a unique place in NFL history because of that.
Schefter posted to X: “A first: This is the first trade between the Browns and Bengals since Cleveland returned to the NFL in 1999. They tried in 2017, when the Bengals attempted to trade QB AJ McCarron to the Browns for draft compensation, but the Browns failed to file the paperwork in time.”
It's fascinating that it took this long for the two Ohio-based NFL teams to make trades between themselves, mainly because neither team has a strong history of making trades or moves to benefit themselves. They have both been seen as a snake-bitten team.
The Bengals were desperate to do anything to jumpstart their offense because they still have Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins in the receiving corps, and Chase Brown has proven to be a quality running back. Still, defenses were seeing this offense as predictable.
Through four games, Flacco went 1-3 as the starter for the Browns. He also completed 58.1% of his passes for 815 yards, two touchdowns, and six interceptions. He was 31st out of the 32 quarterbacks that qualified for QBR, while Jake Browning was a few notches higher at 29th.
The move shows that the Bengals wanted to gain more experience, and thanks to Chase and Higgins, the offense should be much better. The Bengals are still keeping Jake Browning in a backup role, but they decided to release their other backup, Mike White, to make room for Flacco.
