NFL Rumors: Joe Flacco, Colts Agree to 1-Year, $8.7M Contract After Browns Stint

Joe Flacco found some magic with the Cleveland Browns during the 2023 season, so he is going to try to find some more for a different team in 2024.

The Indianapolis Colts and the veteran quarterback agreed to a one-year deal that features $4.5 million guaranteed and can be worth up to $8.7 million, per ESPN's Adam Schefter.

That Flacco is even signing a new contract at 39 years old is an unbelievable development given the reality he was seemingly done with the NFL for large portions of the past season.

While he was the franchise quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens from 2008 to 2018 and won the Super Bowl MVP during the 2012 campaign, that version of the University of Delaware product was nowhere to be found for much of his post-Ravens career.

He went 3-14 as a starter for the Denver Broncos and New York Jets from 2019 through 2022 and struggled with consistency. There were still flashes of the big arm from his Baltimore days, but he wasn't the same quarterback and wasn't even on a team at the start of the 2023 season.

Yet the Browns signed him to a practice-squad deal in November after Deshaun Watson's injury and attempts with P.J. Walker and rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson under center. They eventually signed the veteran to an actual contract after he impressed in his first two starts.

All Flacco did was go 4-1 as a starter and help the Browns clinch their second playoff appearance since the 2002 season by completing 60.3 percent of his passes for 1,616 yards, 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions.

ESPN's Jake Trotter noted he became the first NFL quarterback to throw for 250 or more yards and multiple touchdowns in each of his first five games with a new team during that span.

Unfortunately for Flacco and the Browns, all that momentum came to a halt with a 45-14 loss to the Houston Texans in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. He threw pick-sixes on consecutive possessions in the third quarter and did not look like the version of himself that was so effective for the closing stretch of the regular season.

That left questions about whether he would return to Cleveland or the NFL in general.

"Listen, I love it here and we're dealing with so much right now, just going through the emotions of this game and being so excited to be in this position and now to come up empty," Flacco said after the loss, per Trotter. "That's where my head is. Trying to soak it all in and let this digest a little bit."

After digesting the loss, Flacco is back for more.

Just on a different team and likely in a backup role behind Anthony Richardson.