Joe Flacco may currently have the best chance at being the Cleveland Browns starting quarterback, but that isn't taking anything away from the fans and media enjoying the theater that is the Browns' QB situation.
The veteran signal caller is entering his 18th season in the NFL after signing with Cleveland in free agency. He spent one season with the Indianapolis Colts after playing for the Browns earlier in 2023. Flacco returns to Cleveland with a cast of characters at his side: Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders, and the injured Deshaun Watson.
Those first three are in tight competition with Flacco for the starting job, but they're also very young. That reality has driven reporters to frequently ask Flacco about his wise mentorship to the group.
His answer on Wednesday tells us he is fed up with being asked about it.
"It's a good question to bait somebody into answering and no matter how they answer it, it kind of makes the guy that's answering it look bad," Flacco said. "If I say, 'I don't want to be a mentor,' I look bad. If I say, 'I do want to be a mentor,' then I look like an idiot that doesn't care about being good and playing football."
Flacco has a point here. He is either portrayed as a bad teammate or someone who isn't competitive about his playing time. Either way it's a lose-lose answer, and Flacco is here to set the record straight about what he is here to do.
*"*I tend to try to be honest, and I've said, 'I'm not a mentor. I play football.'
"... it's not necessarily my job to make sure [teammates] listen to me. Hey, hopefully you have a really good relationship with the guys that are in the room, and you naturally want to do that."
Various reports have proven this mindset from Flacco at his previous stops too. He was allegedly not in favor of his former Baltimore Ravens drafting future MVP Lamar Jackson, he denied a mentor role for Drew Lock with the Denver Broncos, and is quoted as saying that he was still competing for a starting spot with the New York Jets and Colts even with a young quarterback in the room.
"It's just not the main focus. I see myself as a guy who can play in this league, so if your main focus was just, 'Hey, bud, I'm going to get you ready,' you're just not taking care of business," Flacco added.
The 2013 Super Bowl MVP knows his time is dwindling down, but that isn't going to stop him from pursuing what he believes he is good enough to do.
Gabriel and Sanders each bring the Browns promise for the future, but the starting quarterback job can only go to one person. Flacco is more accomplished than the rest of his teammates combined, and paired with his ruthless mentality to compete, it will be hard to rip the starting spot out of his hands.