The Cincinnati Bengals have clearly had enough of the Jake Browning experiment.
On Tuesday, only one day after head coach Zac Taylor said his team would evaluate their options at the quarterback position, the Bengals completed a trade with their in-state division rival, the Cleveland Browns, to acquire longtime veteran QB Joe Flacco.
Cincinnati will receive Joe Flacco and a sixth-round pick in exchange for a fifth-round pick.
The move comes just over a week after the Browns benched Flacco in favor of rookie quarterback Dillon Gabriel, and only days after Browning led the Bengals offense to an embarrassing performance against the Lions.
Browning has struggled mightily this year in place of injured starter Joe Burrow. Altogether, he’s completed 64.5 percent of his throws for 757 yards with six TDs and eight picks.
Flacco, 40, has also had a rough start to the 2025 season. In four starts with Cleveland, Flacco completed 58.1 percent of his passes for 815 yards with two touchdowns and six interceptions.
While this is likely a pure coincidence (or maybe it’s not), the Bengals’ next opponent also happens to be the only team Flacco defeated while he was with the Browns: the Green Bay Packers.
Flacco will now don the uniform of his third AFC North team, Pro Football Talk reports. The only team in the north he has not played for is the Pittsburgh Steelers.