Browns Insider Believes Joe Flacco Was Traded Without Kevin Stefanski’s Approval

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Michael Gallagher

By Michael Gallagher

Sports Content Coordinator

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The Cleveland Browns took the NFL world—and possibly their head coach—by surprise when they traded quarterback Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals on Tuesday.

Flacco, who was benched last week in favor of rookie third-rounder Dillon Gabriel, was the team’s backup QB in Week 5, and with the Browns clearly wanting to see what they have in one or both of their rookie signal-callers (Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders), it wasn’t completely shocking that they were exploring trades for the veteran Super Bowl winner.

What was unforeseen, though, was it appeared that head coach Kevin Stefanski seemed just as taken back by the move as many reporters and fans were.

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“The Joe trade took us by surprise,” Stefanski told reporters on Wednesday. “That was not something that we saw coming. They called us, and it happened very fast and happened not too long ago, so still working through all roster type of things.”

Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski and former QB Joe Flacco

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While some took Stefanski’s comments to mean the Browns organization was caught off guard by the Bengals’ interest in Flacco, one team insider isn’t as convinced. In fact, ESPN Cleveland’s Emmett Golden, believes the Flacco trade was done by general manager Andrew Berry without looping Stefanski in first.

“No [I don’t think he was consulted], I think he was told,” Golden stated. “This is what I believe — no inside knowledge. But I believe he was told, ‘Hey, we got an offer from Cincinnati and we’re going to take it.’ … I fully believe Kevin decides the depth chart, (Berry) decides the roster — and that was a roster move.”

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Golden also pointed out that he felt Stefanski was bothered by the trade given his body language and response to questions about what the depth chart will look like for the first game post-Flacco against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 6.

It was reported on Wednesday that Flacco will, indeed, start Sunday’s matchup for the Bengals against the Green Bay Packers.

Conversely, Gabriel will make his second straight start for Cleveland, while sanders and practice squad QB Bailey Zappe were both splitting reps during Wednesday’s practice. Sanders is listed as the No. 2 QB on the depth chart behind Gabriel right now, but Zappe could be elevated to the active roster for the Steelers game.