Browns name veteran QB Joe Flacco Week 1 starter vs. Bengals - ESPN

BEREA, Ohio — Joe Flacco will open the season as the Cleveland Browns' starting quarterback, the team announced Monday.

Flacco, who is entering his 18th NFL season, will also start in the team's preseason finale against the Los Angeles Rams at home on Saturday. Stefanski said he would treat the game as a dress rehearsal for the regular season. Flacco did not play in Cleveland's first two preseason games.

The Browns host the Cincinnati Bengals Week 1.

The Browns entered training with a quarterback competition between four contenders: Flacco, Kenny Pickett and rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders (Deshaun Watson has spent training camp on the physically unable to perform list as he rehabs an Achilles injury). However, injuries and a clear delineation of practice reps led Flacco to take an overwhelming majority of first-team reps.

Pickett, a 2022 first-round pick whom the Browns traded for in the offseason, has not participated in 11-on-11 drills since injuring his hamstring on July 26. Gabriel, a third-round pick, did not play in the preseason opener because of a hamstring injury. And Sanders, a fifth-round pick, did not receive any reps with the starting offense during camp. Sanders also missed the second preseason game because of an oblique injury. The Browns on Aug. 4 signed Tyler Huntley as depth amid a slew of quarterback injuries.

Flacco, 40, is back in Cleveland for a second stint following a five-game stretch in the 2023 season that rivaled any that the franchise has seen from a quarterback since returning to Cleveland in 1999. In the aftermath of Watson's season-ending shoulder injury in November 2023, the Browns signed Flacco. The Browns went 4-1 in five regular season starts under Flacco, who threw for