The cast for Season 3 of the popular Netflix docuseries Quarterback was announced on Wednesday, and the Cleveland Browns are almost guaranteed to catch a few strays. The show is pivoting from three to four quarterbacks this year, and two of them — Baker Mayfield and Joe Flacco — have strong ties to the Browns.
Mayfield might be more inclined to randomly diss Kevin Stefanski than he is the Browns, as we’re now about four years removed from the 2022 trade that shipped him to Carolina. While Cleveland has Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on its 2026 road schedule, this year’s show will cover the 2025 season, so the Browns are likely safe from any major Mayfield haymakers.
Flacco could be a different story. After leading the Browns to their last playoff berth in 2023, he re-joined the team ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft as its presumed bridge quarterback. But the team promptly used draft picks on both Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders, benched Flacco after four starts, and ultimately traded him to division rival Cincinnati in early October.
While Flacco expressed gratitude for GM Andrew Berry and the Browns for providing him with a chance to start for the Bengals while Joe Burrow recovered from foot surgery, he made comments earlier this offseason that felt like a not-so-subtle jab at Cleveland and the rest of the NFL.
"Believe me, I wish I was a guy somewhere. And I think teams are dumb for not having me be that guy," Flacco told the Bengals media. "Not being one of those guys to go sign somewhere, yeah, it pisses me off a little bit. But at the same time, I'm very happy to be here."
Browns fans could be tuning in for Season 3 of Quarterback for all the wrong reasons
The motivation behind Netflix featuring the now 41-year-old Flacco is painfully obvious. A key hook for Season 2 of the show was Kirk Cousins and his awkward split from the Minnesota Vikings during the 2024 offseason. The show chronicled Cousins’ free agent journey to Atlanta that included a massive four-year contract — and him quickly getting undercut by surprising No. 8 overall draft pick Michael Penix Jr.
It would not be surprising to see Flacco’s odd six-month visit with the Browns get some prominent run. Former head coach Kevin Stefanski made the switch to Gabriel rather quickly, ahead of their Week 5 game in London, and it didn’t exactly turn things around. After a 1-3 start with Flacco under center, the Browns went 1-5 with Gabriel before Sanders made his NFL debut in Week 12. The Browns finished the season 5-12.
There will be plenty of footage for Netflix to use, including Mike Tomlin’s passive-aggressive take on the Browns-Bengals trade. Flacco took the high road publicly, but he clearly felt he was the best quarterback on Cleveland’s 2025 roster, and a documentary setting like this could invite a candid, first-person recount of the situation.
Season 3 is set to air on July 14, and any strays headed the Browns’ way have been earned after years of head-scratching decisions at the most important position in sports.
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