Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco will turn 41 in January. He’s in the midst of his 18th NFL season, with his sixth different team, and second this season.
And even so, Flacco isn’t quite ready to call it quits on his football career.
The Super Bowl champion said he would like to be a starting quarterback somewhere in the NFL next season, and is hopeful his stint with the Bengals serves as proof he can still play at a high level.
“Hopefully it reinforces it in somebody’s mind that I can do it,” Flacco told ESPN on Wednesday. “I do still want to do it. I still feel like I can do it. This obviously does help with the confidence of being able to do it and all that stuff. I would like an opportunity, but you just never know.”
In five starts for the Bengals, Flacco has thrown 12 touchdowns to just three interceptions and is averaging 290.6 pass yards per game while completing 63.4% of his pass attempts. He began the 2025 season with the Cleveland Browns, but was traded to the AFC North rival Bengals in October.
Flacco has served as the Bengals QB in place of injured star Joe Burrow, who returned to practice this week and is aiming for a return later this season – perhaps as soon as Thanksgiving day against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Flacco, even with his near-two decades of NFL experience, admits it’s difficult to ignore that his days as the Bengals starting QB are numbered.
“It’s in your head a little bit to a certain extent,” Flacco said. “But I really am not that concerned with it. I think as long as I just keep my head down and keep preparing the way I am and then kind of act oblivious to it, then that’ll be the best for me.”
Flacco is currently under a one-year, $4.25 million contract with the Bengals, which he signed with the Browns in April. He is set to become a free agent after the 2025 NFL season.
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