Joe Flacco gave the Cleveland Browns, and the NFL at large, one of the best comeback stories in the league this year.
Since he left the Baltimore Ravens in 2018, Flacco had not thrown more than six touchdown passes in any of his previous four seasons with the New York Jets and Denver Broncos.
However, in limited time and with almost no practice, Flacco was one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL for the last five games of the regular season and helped carry the Browns into the playoffs.
While the Browns ended up losing in the first round of the playoffs, Flacco’s end-of-the-season performance has shown other NFL teams that he can still play the game.
As such, the Browns have shown interest in bringing Flacco back next year to back up current starter Deshaun Watson.
However, Flacco made his thoughts about being a backup quarterback very clear on the “Dan Patrick Show” (via Twitter.)
“Everybody probably from the outside looks at back up quarterbacks like ‘man that’s a pretty good job you get to make a couple million a year, sitting on the bench’… It’s not a good job man, it sucks, it’s miserable. You want to be playing,” Flacco said.
"Everybody probably from the outside looks at back up quarterbacks like 'man that's a pretty good job you get to make a couple million a year, sitting on the bench'… It's not a good job man, it sucks, it's miserable. You want to be playing."
–@JoeFlacco on being a back up QB pic.twitter.com/jasuPsrPEV
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) January 26, 2024
Those who like the idea of being a backup quarterback obviously don’t have the competitive juices that Flacco does.
And he would know what it’s like not to be the starter, as he was New York’s backup, as well as the Bronco’s backup for the second half of the 2019 season.
If he’s serious about not wanting to settle for a backup role, the odds of Flacco returning to the Browns are small.
There will almost certainly be several teams who are in the market for a veteran QB to help lead their team, and Flacco should be a top candidate.
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