Joe Flacco's New Contract Includes Millions if He Leads Browns to Super Bowl

Veteran quarterback Joe Flacco has helped rejuvenate the Cleveland Browns' passing game since taking over under center. As a result of his work, he's being handsomely rewarded ahead of Week 15's meeting with the Chicago Bears.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that the 38-year-old has officially signed a one-year contract with the Browns for the remainder of the 2023 NFL season. Flacco was previously working off the practice squad, which limits a player to three promotions per season.

While Flacco will only make a base salary of $144,200 for the rest of the season (per Spotrac), the real money comes from his incentives.

Browns News: Joe Flacco Contract

Sources close to Schefter report that Flacco can earn up to $4.05 million off incentives from the regular season through the playoffs. For starters, he'll earn $75,000 for every victory he leads the Browns to over their final four regular-season games.

The good news for Flacco is that Tankathon lists Cleveland as having the 11th-easiest remaining schedule as their final four opponents combine for a 46.2% winning percentage.

From there, Flacco can earn even more money if he leads the Browns to a playoff berth. For starters, he'll make $250,000 and $500,000 with victories in the wild card and divisional rounds, respectively. He's then able to earn $1 million with an AFC Championship victory before the incentives jump up to $2 million for a Super Bowl win.

The Voorhees, NJ native has a long road to travel before hitting those incentives, but things do look promising.

Despite sitting on the sidelines for the first 12 weeks of the season, Flacco hasn't looked out of place since emerging as the Browns' new QB1. While he's only completed 55.1% of his passes, he's still averaging 282.5 passing yards across two starts while throwing five touchdowns to two interceptions.

For reference, the trio of Deshaun Watson, P.J. Walker, and Dorian Thompson-Robinson have each averaged 185.8 passing yards or fewer while combining for nine TD passes.

If the Browns make the playoffs and go on a deep run, it's safe to say that it wouldn't be possible without Flacco. It'll be interesting to see if he has enough left in the tank to lead Cleveland to the first Super Bowl in franchise history.

For now, the Browns own the 10th-best odds to win Super Bowl LVIII in February, per FanDuel Sportsbook's latest odds.

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