BEREA, Ohio — Joe Flacco knows that averaging more than 300 yards a game in his last go ‘round here doesn’t catapult him to the top of the Browns depth chart in his second stint. He knows he’ll have to beat out Kenny Pickett, the Browns’ new rookie QB, and whoever else they bring in to have a chance to infect the town with Flacco Fever again. In fact, Kevin Stefanski didn’t specifically state he’ll have a chance to compete for the starting job, even though Flacco will be part of the first open QB competition under this regime. “No, Kevin kind of just said, ‘Listen, we have no preconceived notions of who’s going to be the starting quarterback,’” Flacco said at a press conference Wednesday to kick off the Browns’ voluntary offseason program. “We want to put together a good room and have good competition and see what comes of it.” He said they spoke more in general terms about the makeup of the quarterback room, which could include a rookie such as Jalen Milroe, Jaxson Dart or Tyler Shough by Day 2 of the draft. “It kind of developed into what it was, and the situation here with who we have on the roster and what they’re likely to do in the draft,” Flacco, 40, said. “We didn’t really talk too much about that. I’m just excited to be here and the possibility, the opportunity.” Signed to a one-year deal worth $4 million, with incentives to make up to $13 million, Flacco will try to pick up where he left off here in 2023, when he went 4-1 to light up the town and lead the Browns to a 11-6 mark and a wild card berth. They lost 45-14 to the Texans in the first round when Flacco threw two pick-sixes and the No. 1 defense tanked, but Flacco will try to recreate the regular season magic. “It’s exciting,” he said “That’s all you can ask for in this league (is a chance to compete). I don’t really have any expectations besides to go out there, be myself and kind of put my head down, work hard and kind of just do things the way I know how to. And the exciting part about it this time around is that I get to be a part of the team from the get-go and kind of make those relationships even better than they are. And I think there’s a lot of fun in that.” The Browns waited until a month into free agency to sign Flacco, meaning they weren’t necessarily counting on him to be their starter this season. In fact, they traded for Pickett, the Steelers’ 2022 No. 20 overall pick, a month beforehand, sending Dorian Thompson-Robinson and a fifth-round pick to the Eagles in exchange. “If you asked me two weeks before it actually happened, I would’ve said, ‘No way,’” Flacco said. “It’s funny, I drove up to North Jersey, I was playing golf with a couple buddies and I didn’t even have Cleveland on my mind, and by the end of that night, I did. And I didn’t have my phone on me all day. I didn’t see my phone until probably 8:30, 9 o’clock. In that probably 10-hour window things changed a little bit. “That’s why I kind of joked to my family a little bit, my agent was talking to me about the places I may end up and I kind of joked about it that whatever he’s saying right now, it’s probably going to be whatever is the opposite of that. Just because you never know how the talks materialize and all those things happen. I think I’ve learned over the last few years to not really get my hopes and going one way or the other until something actually happens because it’s kind of unpredictable in that way.” If the fans had a vote, Flacco would win the starting job hands down. His re-signing lit up social media and sports talk radio, and practically had fans dancing in the streets. In fact, if Pickett, whom the Browns are excited about, wins the starting job, he’ll have to navigate fans going Whacko for Flacco. Some believed it’s why Flacco wasn’t re-signed by the Browns last season, because his popularity with fans might’ve been a detriment to Deshaun Watson, especially coming off shoulder surgery. The Browns opted for Jameis Winston instead, citing the fact he was nine years younger. “It’s a competition in that room,” Stefanski said. “Those guys will push each other. I think there’s a way to support your teammates by pushing your teammates. And I think when you’re competing for a job that has one guy that can go out there on the field, although maybe we play with two, I think there’s value in bringing out the best in each one of your players and your teammates outside of that room and this building. I don’t think you can take much more into that equation.” Stefanski acknowledged that everyone in the QB room has a shot, even if the Browns draft Travis Hunter at 2 and take a developmental quarterback later. “I’d say everyone in the room is competing for the job,” he said. “So I guess that’s one way to put it, but competition brings out the best in everybody, so we look forward to that.” With the NFL world poised for the Browns to draft Hunter unless someone makes them an offer they can’t refuse, Flacco has plugged in to some of the Hunter buzz. “He’s obviously really athletic and he has all the physical tools,” he said. “The thing that would excite me about him is the fact that he plays both ways. And what does that say? I don’t know. The thing that it says to me is that he’s more than just an athlete, he’s a football player, he understands space and he understands how to play the game. And I think sometimes in this league those things get overlooked. “So for me, you always need good football players. The athleticism is obviously a plus, but for me the fact that he’s able to do multiple things on a field would be a sign at least that he has the ability, he is a football player and I think that’s always the most important thing.” What he’s not dialed into is who the Browns will draft at quarterback. “I’m obviously not that interested,” he said. “I won’t be paying attention. I’ll probably get updates from friends or family on who we picked. Yeah, I haven’t paid attention to the draft in the last probably 14 or 15 years. I’ll wait to see who it is and say ‘What’s up’ to them in the locker room when they show up in Cleveland.” He bristled some at the “mentorship” question, knowing folks have criticized him in the past for it. “You kind get in trouble no matter how you answer it,” he said. “I don’t think anybody ever really views themselves as a mentor, solely as a mentor. I think we all want to go out there and compete and play. I think if you’re in the quarterback room for a day or two, you could probably understand that things like that naturally come up. “When you just have a competitive, good quarterback room, you don’t really have to worry about being a mentor. You do you and you compete and you have fun and conversations come up and everybody learns from it. I still have things to learn … so I think everybody kind of plays off of each other in that room.” On Tuesday night, Flacco took his wife Dana and their four kids to watch the Guardians beat the Yankees. Among other things, they got their picture taken with Slider. The Flacco Flock has always been treated like royalty here, and the kids gave the return to Cleveland four thumbs up. “From my vantage point, it has been a special place,” Flacco said. “I don’t know if everybody can say that, but it seems like it. It’s a town that reacts to the sports and I’m kind of from the Northeast and I feel like the more west you go, that passion, maybe it’s a little bit different, maybe it’s shown in a little bit different way, but I feel like this kind of city still kind of aligns with the ideals of that Northeast mindset and things like that. “They’re tough people that care about their sports and kind of care about people in general and just want to see the place where they’re from do well. So I think it is a special place because of that. And the family’s excited about it. They were definitely happy that they were playing Aaron Judge as well, that kind of added to go into the game to go watch him and it was kind of a win-win. We ended up winning 3-2 and Aaron Judge goes 4-for-4 and doesn’t really do any damage. So it was a cool game to go to.” If Flacco has his way, fun for the flock has only just begun.