Joe Flacco Talks About His “Dad” Persona in the Browns’ Locker Room

The Cleveland Browns have quite the eclectic quartet of passers competing for the top job at training camp in Berea, Ohio. Each has their own unique attributes and pedigrees.

Kenny Pickett, a 2022 first-rounder, is young but also experienced. Dillon Gabriel is a rookie third-rounder who has heart and smarts if not size. Shedeur Sanders is a rookie fifth-rounder with prototypical QB size and skills and a great football pedigree, but also brings media scrutiny.

Joe Flacco is the resident veteran who’s seen it all. Including this Kevin Stefanski playbook, which he executed very well in 2023, going 4-1 in five starts… Flacco is 40, and he is six years older than any other player on the team. In fact, he is only three years younger than Stefanski and seven years older than his offensive coordinator, Tommy Rees.

The gap is even bigger in the QB room. He’s 13 years older than Pickett, 15 years older than Gabriel, and 17 years older than Sanders. That’s a full generation separating him from his QB teammates, which makes it no surprise that he is viewed as the “dad” of the locker room—even if he doesn’t see himself like that quite yet.

“I probably don’t see it as me being a dad, I’m just being myself. And the younger guys can probably see me being a dad. But there’s also times where you just purposely tell stories. Because you’re a dad, probably, and funny things can kinda come up because of that, so,” Flacco said.

While Flacco doesn’t seem himself as a dad on the team, like he said, he sometimes just naturally falls into dad story mode. He said that even after 17 years in the league, he can still interrupt a meeting with the best of them.

“Oh, I’m not [a quiet guy in a meeting room]. I am not. Ask [Browns OC] Tommy Rees. I can interrupt meetings big time, because I like to tell stories… Come on, it’s one of the best parts about doing what we do. Is hanging out with the guys, and telling stories, and interrupting meetings.”

Flacco was then asked by reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala, who laughed most at his dad stories out of Pickett, Gabriel, and Sanders. Without skipping a beat, Flacco gave the perfect dad answer with a laugh: “I don’t know, and they’re probably all laughing at me most of the time.”

At this point, it seems unlikely that anyone is going to move Joe Flacco off his perch atop the depth chart. He’s clearly been a positive presence in the locker room, he knows Stefanski’s scheme better than anyone in that QB room, and he’s got the experience and know-how as well. While he likely won’t make it the full 17 games, we should be getting some classic Flacco come September.