Quarterback Joe Flacco has resurrected his career with the Cleveland Browns and swelled his bank account significantly along the way.
Flacco is 4-1 as the Browns starter and has authored a four-game winning streak, which he capped off with a convincing 37-20 victory over his former team — the New York Jets — on Thursday Night Football on December 28.
That win put Cleveland in the playoffs for the first time since head coach Kevin Stefanski’s first season in 2020. It also earned Flacco $75,000 in bonus money, as has each of the team’s last four victories, totaling $300,000 in bonuses for the quarterback over the last month.
Browns’ QB Joe Flacco earned another $75,000 bonus for Thursday night’s win, as he does for each regular-season win that he helps Cleveland get. pic.twitter.com/0sBlTBWAKY
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 29, 2023
“Browns’ QB Joe Flacco has earned another $75,000 bonus for Thursday night’s win, as he does for each regular-season win that he helps Cleveland get,” ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported via X on Friday, December 29.
The 38-year-old Flacco inked a one-year, $2.5 million deal with the Browns on in December after joining the practice squad in November.
Joe Flacco Reacts to Career Transformation with Browns Over Past 6 Weeks
Reporters asked Flacco during Thursday night’s postgame press conference how surreal the moment was for him, going from essentially retirement due to a lack of interest around the league to six weeks later leading a team to the playoffs for his first time in nearly a decade.
“We’re going to have a three-day weekend here where I’ll probably get a chance to [reflect], but I want to try to stay in the moment as much as possible,” Flacco said. “Right, now it’s already midnight, but you’ll get a couple of hours here before I fall asleep that you’ll kind of get to lay around and think about how cool of a night it was. And hopefully I’ll try to let those [two] hours linger as long as possible so I can enjoy it a little bit. Because by the time you wake up the next day, you’re like, ‘Okay, that felt good, but we got to start to move on a little bit.’”
The Browns are likely to play their Wildcard playoff game on the road, but boast the No. 1 ranked defense in the NFL. And with Flacco at the helm, the team should present a legitimate challenge to any division winner it may face.
It is unclear whether Cleveland (11-5) will play Flacco or any of its other crucial stars in the final game of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals, as the Browns have already clinched a playoff spot.
Joe Flacco Throws for 4th Consecutive 300-Yard Game in Win Over Jets
Media members also asked Flacco after the game what it was like to clinch a playoff berth in front of a home crowd that was chanting his name in unison at one point during the night.
“You know, it’s really cool,” Flacco said. “I mean, it was really cool, unbelievable atmosphere. So, yeah, to get it done in front of the home crowd, to actually get ourselves into that next step of the season definitely made it extra special.”
Flacco threw for 309 yards, 3 touchdowns and 1 interception against the Jets Thursday, his fourth consecutive 300-yard passing game. He has completed 60.3% of his passes this since joining the Browns for 1,616 yards, 13 TDs and 8 INTs, per Pro Football Reference.
