{"id":801385,"date":"2026-03-09T02:05:42","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T02:05:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/801385\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T02:05:42","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T02:05:42","slug":"joe-flacco-could-stay-with-bengals-if-he-cant-get-starting-job-in-nfl-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/801385\/","title":{"rendered":"Joe Flacco could stay with Bengals if he can&#8217;t get starting job in NFL free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Joe Flacco is eyeing another starting job \u2014 but he isn\u2019t necessarily in a hurry to flee Cincinnati.<\/p>\n<p>The veteran quarterback is set to hit the free market on Monday, and he\u2019ll be looking for a chance to \u201cat least compete\u201d for another starting job in his 19th season, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/TomPelissero\/status\/2030701993589723367?s=20\" rel=\"nofollow\">Sunday report<\/a> from NFL Network\u2019s Tom Pelissero.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Should his market remain limited to backup roles, said Pelissero, Flacco would \u201cstrongly consider\u201d returning to the Bengals after last year\u2019s mid-season trade.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.81277533;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38714045\" width=\"823\" height=\"454\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Screenshot-2026-03-08-170720.png\" alt=\"Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco\" class=\"wp-image-38714045\"  \/>Veteran quarterback Joe Flacco filled in for an injured Joe Burrow during the 2025 NFL season. Tom Pelissero \/ X<\/p>\n<p>Flacco began his age-40 season with the Browns before getting <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/10\/08\/sports\/bengals-make-starting-qb-decision-after-surprise-joe-flacco-trade\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sent to Cincinnati<\/a> in October to fill in for the injured Joe Burrow, who missed three months of the 2025 campaign with a severe case of turf toe.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The former Super Bowl MVP impressed as the first-string signal-caller, completing 61.7 percent of his passes for 1,664 yards, 13 touchdowns, and four interceptions across six starts (nine appearances) for the Bengals \u2014 holding the line until Burrow returned in Week 13.<\/p>\n<p>After the season, Flacco earned the first Pro Bowl nod of his illustrious career.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38714038\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cincinnati-bengals-walks-field-nfl-120365777.jpg\" alt=\"Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco\" class=\"wp-image-38714038\"  \/>Joe Flacco earned his first career Pro Bowl nod after the 2025 NFL season. AP<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s possible that the former Ravens star rides that momentum into another starting gig, offering stopgap flexibility and veteran leadership to franchises still looking for a long-term solution under center.<\/p>\n<p>Such opportunities could materialize for Flacco, as the current free-agent market \u2014 headlined by Kyler Murray, Aaron Rodgers, Malik Willis, and likely Tua Tagovailoa \u2014 is far from stacked.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Save for presumed first overall pick Fernando Mendoza, the 2026 draft class isn\u2019t necessarily brimming with arm talent, either<\/p>\n<p>But if supporting roles are all that Flacco fields, he may be most comfortable sticking around the Queen City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Flacco is eyeing another starting job \u2014 but he isn\u2019t necessarily in a hurry to flee Cincinnati.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":801386,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,562,6,89225,2592,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-801385","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cincinnati-bengals","8":"tag-bengals","9":"tag-cincinnati","10":"tag-cincinnati-bengals","11":"tag-cincinnatibengals","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-joe-flacco","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-nfl-free-agency-2026","16":"tag-nfl-free-agency","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116196772465918251","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=801385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/801385\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/801386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=801385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=801385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=801385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}