Joe Flacco won’t complete the AFC North grand slam by joining the Steelers, but the Bengals are bringing him back. And they are paying him well, too, signing hm to a one-year deal worth up to $9 million. Paying a base value of $6 million, the 41-year-old quarterback can earn another $3 million in incentives.
A former 2008 first-round pick of the Ravens, Joe Flacco won a Super Bowl in Baltimore in 2012. As his career took a downturn, they drafted Lamar Jackson in 2017, and he soon was on the way out. Since then, he’s never managed to earn another stable starting job. But he has performed some magic off the bench for a few organizations.
In fact, he shined enough for the Browns in 2024 that they went into 2025 with him as their starter. After some initially struggles, however, they benched him. Then Cleveland traded Flacco to a quarterback-needy Bengals team. Despite the team’s continued losses, the offense put up numbers—big numbers.
In six starts last year with the Bengals, Joe Flacco went 158-for-256 for 1,664 yards with 13 touchdowns to 4 interceptions. They still went 1-5, but that was because the defense refused to stop a cold. Prior to that, Flacco posted a 1-3 record in Cleveland, going 2-8 overall. But that wasn’t necessarily a reflection of his individual play.
Flacco kept the Bengals’ playoff hopes alive after Joe Burrow’s latest injury, which caused him to miss most of last season. They didn’t have an answer at quarterback without him, despite their initial hopes. That’s why many—including former Steelers HC Mike Tomlin—were surprised Cleveland was willing to give them one. Flacco kept them competitive in high-scoring games, the Bengals hardly able to ask more of even Burrow for many weeks.
In truth, he played some of the best football of his career during that stretch. That’s no surprise, given that he had arguably the best pair of wide receivers in the NFL to throw to. Catering to his strengths as a deep-ball passer, Flacco and the Bengals exploited their matchups with Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
With Joe Burrow struggling to stave off his reputation of being injury prone, the Bengals have learned the value of having a quality backup like Flacco who can run their offense. Now that they’ve locked him up with a very respectable contract, they need to focus on the defense.
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