Joe Flacco
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Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco.
There’s a certain amount of self-confidence you need to be an elite starting quarterback in the NFL. The type of self-confidence that, from an outsider’s perspective, might seem to border on self-delusion at times.
How else can we explain away the men who play the hardest position in all of professional sports? Who would stand in the pocket and let themselves be annihilated by men bigger, faster, and stronger than them for years at a time?
One example of how that self-confidence/self-delusion works was on full display this week when 41-year-old former Baltimore Ravens quarterback and Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco signed a 1-year, $6 million contract to return as Joe Burrow‘s backup on the Cincinnati Bengals in 2026.
It turns out Flacco wasn’t happy he got another chance to make another NFL payday as he was upset another team didn’t sign him to be their starter — a wild claim on the surface, but also a good explainer on the attitude it takes to be an elite NFL quarterback.
Also worth pointing out? Flacco’s latest contract with the Bengals will push him over the $190 million mark in career earnings in his 19th NFL season.
So maybe he’s onto something, and it’s the rest of us who need to catch up.
“Believe me, I wish I was a (starter) somewhere,” Flacco told ESPN’s Ben Baby on Tuesday. “And I think teams are dumb for not having me be that guy … 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.”
Odds Are Joe Flacco Starts for Bengals in 2026
While Flacco might be disappointed he’s not getting an opportunity to be a starter as a free agent, the truth is he’s on the 1 team where there’s an almost 100 percent certainty he will get to start multiple regular-season games this season.
That’s because Burrow, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft, has little to no ability to play an entire season of football.
Burrow signed a 5-year, $275 million contract extension before the 2023 season that made him the highest-paid player in NFL history. He’s played every regular-season game for his team just once in his career, in 2024, when he led the NFL with 4,918 passing yards and 43 touchdowns.
Burrow missed the final 6 games of his rookie season with a catastrophic knee injury. He missed the first 7 games of the 2023 season with a calf injury and missed 9 games in 2025 with a turf toe injury, which required surgery.
Tracking Joe Flacco’s Lengthy NFL career
Flacco was the Ravens’ 1st round pick (No. 18 overall) in the 2008 NFL draft and spent a decade-plus as their starter. He was replaced by 2-time NFL MVP Lamar Jackson as the Ravens’ starter midway through the 2018 season and was traded to the Denver Broncos following the season in exchange for a 4th round pick.
Flacco went 2-6 as the starter for the Broncos in 2019 before neck surgery ended his season, and he was released after he failed to pass a physical. Since then, Flacco has been a high-level backup for 5 different teams — the New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles, Cleveland Browns, Bengals, and the Indianapolis Colts.
Flacco was brilliant with the Browns in 2023, when he joined the team in Week 13 and went 4-1 as the starter down the stretch to lead the Browns to the playoffs. Flacco was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year following the season.