Former Browns CEO Says Joe Flacco Trade “Doesn’t Make Sense” Amid Dillon Gabriel vs. Shedeur Sanders Debate

There’s not much excitement in Cleveland, Ohio, these days. The mayoral campaigns are over, the sky is gray, the weather is turning cold, and the Cleveland Browns seem to be as far away from a playoff win as they have ever been.

It certainly doesn’t help that Joe Flacco is averaging 313.5 passing yards and nearly three touchdown passes a game since they decided to trade him to Cincinnati, either. Things are so bad, in fact, that their former CEO, Joe Banner, couldn’t help but exclaim “oh god,” and roll his eyes after Rich Eisen bothered to ask him about his current thoughts on the team.

“I think they are trying to end up with as high a pick as they can, and trading Flacco, which doesn’t make any sense to me. Trading Flacco, I know they were upset when they traded Flacco inside of the division, but why wouldn’t they? That means they lose another game when they play them,” Banner outlined.

According to Banner, you can expect Cleveland to once again have possession of a top-five draft pick come springtime. That itself may not be surprising, but the former team executive did somewhat surprisingly predict that they may be drafting yet another quarterback in 2026 as well.

Even though Banner believes that the front office is “doing the right thing” by taking their time with both of their rookie signal callers in Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, he doesn’t necessarily have much faith in either of them long term. As it turns out, Banner is much more concerned about the future of the offensive line rather than the quarterback room.

“I don’t think either of them has what it takes, in my opinion… They could lose all five of their offensive linemen at the end of the season if they decide that they are not good enough. They just had a draft that, at least in Cleveland, was covered as a great draft, without picking one offensive lineman, even at the end of the draft, to possibly develop. I just don’t understand. That’s just a way off-base team building philosophy,” Banner added, giving a subtle criticism of the Browns’ strategies. Notably, Shedeur is yet to play a game, and Dillon has not made his opportunities count, with his best performance being a 215-yard game.

Unfortunately, head-scratching decisions have become the norm in Cleveland. Whether it’s having five quarterbacks on the roster or shelling out large contracts to questionable figures, there are plenty of things to point to when trying to determine where exactly the Browns went wrong.

Nevertheless, it’s going to be a while before any of those issues are resolved, as the front office seems to be more focused on raising ticket costs and stadium planning rather than fielding a palatable product for its fans and attendees.