The Cleveland Browns know who their starting quarterback will be in their wildcard match with the Houston Texans, but the backup quarterback role was left unclear over the past few weeks.
Joe Flacco is the unquestioned starter after he led the Browns to the No. 5 seed and the backup role was likely to come down to either Week 18 starter Jeff Driskel or P.J. Walker, who started a few games earlier this season after rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson landed on injured reserve with a hip injury.
The team reportedly made its decision Wednesday to go with Driskel as QB2 behind Flacco, according to KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson.
#Browns backup quarterback Saturday is Jeff Driskel, former #Texans quarterback
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) January 10, 2024
Driskel played pretty poorly in his first and only start for the Browns in the Week 18 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, but his experience in the NFL is a bit better than Walker’s in the event he’d have to take over for Flacco for any reason in the playoffs.
This is yet another quarterback issue the Browns have had to deal with after Cleveland started five different quarterbacks this year.
The team started the season with Deshaun Watson, then played P.J. Walker and Dorian Thompson-Robinson after Watson’s various injuries earlier in the year before going with Flacco in the most important stretch of the season.
Driskel came on to start in Week 18 only because the Browns benched most of their starters with the playoff berth already locked in.
The hope for Cleveland is that they won’t ever need to resort to Driskel, but anything can happen in the postseason.
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Joe Flacco Has An Impressive Wild Card Playoff Stat