Joe Flacco States The Obvious: He's Old Enough To Be The Father Of Several Browns Teammates

Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco is having a renaissance season in the NFL. He went from sitting on his couch to leading the Browns to the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

Flacco spent the past three seasons with the New York Jets, but remained unsigned this year until November. But, an injury to starter Deshaun Watson along with bad play by P.J. Walker and Dorian Thompson-Robinson led Cleveland to call the 38-year-old quarterback.

If Flacco can lead the Browns to two playoff victories, he'll turn 39 before the AFC Championship. If you do the math, you can see where this is going.

“This is the 16th year I’ve been in this league,” Flacco said to reporters Wednesday. “You can tell guys look at you a little bit differently just because of that. I always say, ‘If I messed up in high school, I could be these kids dads.’

Joe Flacco celebrates after defeating the New York Jets at Cleveland Browns Stadium on December 28, 2023 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Nick Cammett/Getty Images)

"There is something that — they probably do look at me a little bit differently just because of that. To get a sense of what kind of impact, who knows? I’m just being myself and trying help them win games. I think that when you’re yourself, that’s the best chance you have to impact people. So hopefully I’ve had something.”

Joe Flacco jokes about his age relative to his Cleveland Browns teammates

Flacco entered high school in 1998 and graduated in 2003. Let's take freshman year out of the equation.

How many of his Cleveland Browns offensive teammates were born during the window from the summer of his freshman year to graduation?

Glad you asked. I put on my journalism hat and did some research. Here you go:

Jerome Ford, RB, born September 12, 1999

David Bell, WR, born December 14, 2000

Elijah Moore, WR, born March 27, 2000

Cedric Tillman, WR, born April 19, 2000

Luke Wypler, OL, born May 3, 2001

Five players on the Browns offense were born between Joe Flacco's sophomore and senior years in high school.

If you add defensive players, the list gets a lot longer. Ten players on the defense were born between September 1999 and June 2003.

The youngest player on the roster is rookie safety Ronnie Hickman. He was born on October 11, 2001.

At that time, Joe Flacco had already started his junior year as the starting quarterback at Audubon High School in New Jersey.