Browns offense scouting report: Packers look to harass Joe Flacco behind leaky line

The Green Bay Packers head to Cleveland in Week 3 for their first road game of the 2025 season, looking to get off to a 3-0 start with a win over the winless Browns.

Green Bay will be heavily favored in the game and looks to be the better team on both sides of the ball, but how should the Packers defend the Browns, and how could the Browns look to attack them?

Here is the scouting report on the main characters of the Browns offense ahead of Sunday’s contest:

Joe Flacco

No one would confuse Flacco for a difference-making quarterback at this late stage of his career, but the 40-year-old has been a steady hand for the Browns and Colts in recent years.

When he has succeeded of late, it has mostly come with a heavy helping of play action. Flacco had an 80.9 PFF grade with play action in 2024, and 90.2 in 2023, compared to 64.7 and 59.9 without.

However, he has only run play action plays on 18% of his dropbacks so far in 2025. It is hard to get opposing defenses to bite on play action when they are playing from ahead, and the Browns have trailed for the vast majority of their first two games.

Flacco is a sitting duck in the pocket and is not a threat to escape and hurt the Packers with his legs. Likely as a result of that, he has been efficient when kept clean in recent seasons, but has been poor when under pressure and/or against the blitz.

To start 2025, Flacco has a 78 PFF grade when kept clean compared to a 28.9 grade under pressure, which ranks 34th out of 35 qualified quarterbacks, ahead of only Bo Nix.

He is also not pushing the ball downfield much at this stage, and has not been charted as having a single "big time throw" through two weeks. Flacco mostly wants to protect the ball, get it out quick and throw it short and intermediate.

This may be a week for Keisean Nixon, Carrington Valentine and Nate Hobbs to challenge opposing pass catchers and perhaps for defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley to deploy more man coverage, knowing Flacco is unlikely to hurt them when their back is turned or drop a deep pass right over their heads.

It is worth noting that if things start going south for the Browns on Sunday, rookie Dillon Gabriel could get a look in Flacco’s place.

Offensive line

Cleveland has a veteran offensive line with several experienced, respected, but ultimately declining players, including their guards Joel Bitonio (33) and Wyatt Teller (30), who were once viewed as being among the best at their position.

Bitonio has allowed 35 and 32 pressures in the last two years after not giving up more than 20 in the previous five seasons, while Teller has allowed eight pressures in two weeks to start 2025.

Center Ethan Pocic (30) is another season veteran with pelts on the wall, but he was ranked as PFF’s 24th best center a year ago and is 29th out of 33 qualified centers so far in 2025.

One of the Packers’ biggest question marks entering the season was their interior defensive line, especially after the departure of Kenny Clark which left behind a young group. They have been more than up to the task so far, and in theory could cause real problems for the Browns on Sunday. It is a question of which matters more, experience or energy and youth?

At tackle, Jack Conklin, another solid but declining veteran at 31 years old, could return from injury to shore up the right side. He allowed 38 pressures and seven sacks last year. If Conklin cannot go, it will be Cornelius Lucas, who has never been a full time starter and has given up ten pressures in two games so far this year. On the left side, things look even more treacherous for Cleveland.

Dawand Jones, a mountain of a man at 6-8 and 375 pounds, struggling mightily through two weeks to the point that he was seemingly benched for KT Leveston, a 2024 seventh-round pick who promptly allowed a pair of pressures in just eight pass blocking snaps, the first ones of his career.

After wreaking havoc in the first two weeks, there should be plenty of opportunities for the likes of Micah Parsons, Rashan Gary, Devonte Wyatt and the rest of Green Bay's front to make it a difficult afternoon for Cleveland’s offensive line on Sunday.

Skill players

Jerry Jeudy is the Browns’ most high profile pass catcher and has enjoyed some productive seasons in the NFL, including a 1,200-yard campaign in 2024. He does not profile as a true deep threat though, and does not break many tackles (eight last year). Jeudy is a smooth, quality receiver who can catch plenty of passes in the short and intermediate areas, but he is not a game winner.

The more interesting weapons for Cleveland are their tight ends and running backs.

At tight end, rookie Harold Fannin has been funneled a high volume of targets in the first couple of weeks. With over 1,500 yards and ten touchdowns at Bowling Green last year, he had unprecedented production entering the league and looks like a go-to player for Cleveland already.

He pairs with David Njoku, a veteran who has produced whenever healthy and is a threat to create yards after the catch. With Fannin and Njoku, Cleveland head coach and offensive play caller Kevin Stefanski has the option to use 12-personnel and draw up some creative looks.

Rookie running back Dylan Sampson has already shown himself to be a useful player in the passing game, while second-round pick Quinshon Judkins is finally involved in the offense after a tumultuous summer where he was accused of domestic assault and battery. Judkins is a talented runner and looked bright in his NFL debut last week, averaging 6.1 yards per rush with a long of 31.

Based on how the two sides stack up on paper, there is not much to indicate Cleveland can give Green Bay real problems on Sunday.

The Browns will probably look to get the ball out quickly and let their skill players try to create after the catch. If that is the case, it will be vital that the Packers defense, particularly linebackers Edgerrin Cooper and Quay Walker, pursue the football effectively and more importantly for a group that plays with its hair on fire, tackle securely.

This article originally appeared on Packers Wire: Browns offense scouting report: Packers looking to harass Joe Flacco