Dawgs By Nature
The Cincinnati Bengals find themselves in the unfortunate position of needing a quarterback after the news came out on Monday that starter Joe Burrow will miss up to three months after suffering a turf toe injury that will require surgery.
As luck would have it, there is a team just 249 miles to the North that could be accommodating.
Two weeks into the season, and coming off a demoralizing loss to the Baltimore Ravens, it is starting to feel like another lost season for the Cleveland Browns.
So if the Bengals called this week about a quarterback, would the Browns be willing to listen?
Cleveland is going nowhere with 40-year-old Joe Flacco, at least not beyond this season. (Or perhaps even beyond the next few weeks.) The Bengals, who are 2-0 after consecutive close victories over the Browns and Jacksonville Jaguars, are in first place in the AFC North, with visions of a return to the playoffs still in their heads.
A veteran presence like Flacco, even if he is finally starting to show his age, could be an enticing option given that Cincinnati’s quarterback room is currently populated by Jake Browning, he of the seven career starts in three seasons with the Bengals, and Brett Rypien, biding his time on the practice squad with four career starts to his résumé.
The Browns may not be ready to throw in the towel on the season just yet, but the worst-case scenario if they trade Flacco would be to start Dillon Gabriel the rest of the season, see what they have, and then act accordingly in the 2026 NFL Draft.
But if the Bengals are not interested in a Flacco with 200,000-plus miles on his odometer, perhaps the Browns could entice them with a shiny new Shedeur Sanders?
Much to the chagrin of his legion of fans, Sanders is nowhere close to being ready to play at the NFL level, and as Cleveland’s third-string emergency quarterback, is also not close to seeing the field this fall.
But as a backup to Browning, Sanders would only be the proverbial one play away from getting onto the field. And what quarterback would balk at the potential opportunity of throwing to wide receivers Ja’Maar Chase and Tee Higgins? They might even be able to unlock Sanders’ potential quicker than Cleveland’s receiving group.
Moving Sanders to the Bengals could accelerate his path to getting on the field, plus it would alleviate the Browns of the burden of dealing with the Sanders’ “experience,” which, thanks to the media and his aforementioned fan base, shows no sign of ending anytime soon.
Plus, they can still follow the plan of playing Flacco until it all falls apart, putting in Gabriel for the remainder of the season to see what they have, and then act accordingly in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Sure, the Browns would be taking a risk that a fifth-round quarterback could turn into a viable NFL starter down the road, but sometimes teams have to take...
