As a quartet of teams in need of veteran quarterbacks consider options that include a couple of Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks who were once the highest-paid players in the NFL, a third one who checks the same two boxes could end up being a prime fallback option for one of them.
Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson are getting the headlines. Joe Flacco is waiting patiently to see how it plays out.
Flacco recently visited the Giants. He’s in play, we’re told, for jobs with the Steelers, Browns, and Vikings.
The Super Bowl XLVII MVP with the Ravens, Flacco secured the best quarterback contract in league history in 2013. (The deal was later renegotiated to give Flacco that title a second time.)
Since his time with the Ravens ended, following the arrival of Lamar Jackson in 2018, Flacco has taken whatever he can get. He played for the Broncos in 2019 (eight starts), the Jets from 2020 through 2022 (nine total starts), the Browns in late 2023 (he won Comeback Player of the Year and pushed the team to the playoffs), and the Colts in 2024 (six starts).
Flacco is now 40, but he can still throw it. And since he was never a mobile quarterback, the aging of the legs (which always go before the arm) has been a non-issue.
He has shown that he loves football. He fully intends to take a job this season, somewhere. And he likely won’t be expensive; he made $4.5 million last year.
So while Rodgers stares into the ocean to carefully contemplate his options (at a time when dozens of players are making snap decisions) and while Wilson tries to convince the likes of the Browns and Giants that his repertoire consists of more than moonball left and moonball right, Flacco is content to wait.
Eventually, he’ll get an offer. Maybe more than one. And if the Steelers are looking to go cheaper than Rodgers at the position, Flacco could be their best move.
It also would bring Flacco back to the place where his college career began. Yes, Flacco was at Pitt until Tyler Palko arrived. He then parlayed three years at Delaware into a first-round pedigree and had a very good run with the Ravens.
Now, the Ravens could be seeing him twice in 2025, as the quarterback of their most hated rival.
