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CINCINNATI, OHIO – DECEMBER 28: Joe Flacco #16 of the Cincinnati Bengals warms up prior to a game against the Arizona Cardinals at Paycor Stadium on December 28, 2025 in Cincinnati, Ohio. (Photo by Ben Jackson\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Joe Flacco will obviously be back for a 19th season in the NFL<\/a>.<\/p>\n The former Super Bowl MVP is coming off of a whirlwind season which saw him begin the year as the starting quarterback for the Cleveland Browns<\/a> before he was traded a month into the season to the Cincinnati Bengals<\/a>. Shortly after being traded to the Bengals, he would start the next six games due to injuries to starter Joe Burrow and backup Jake Browning.<\/p>\n Instead of signing with another team that would give him a chance to start, Flacco decided to re-up with the Bengals, where he\u2019s entrenched as Burrow\u2019s backup. The decision to re-sign with the Bengals came as a bit of a surprise considering Flacco\u2019s self-admitted desire to go to a team where he would have a chance to start.<\/p>\n The 41-year-old quarterback \u2014 he\u2019ll be the second-oldest quarterback in the league behind 42-year-old Aaron Rodgers \u2014 detailed why exactly he decided to re-sign with the Bengals on a one-year deal.<\/p>\n \u201cI think my decision to come back there can fill you in on some of the thoughts that I have about the organization,\u201d said Flacco in a one-on-one interview with Heavy Sports while talking about appearing in Netflix\u2019s Quarterback series. \u201cI felt like ultimately I had a really good relationship with a lot of guys on the team. I really liked the coaching staff and felt like I was treated well there. I think being open to all things and going in there with an open mind allowed me to kind of bond with a lot of people in that building and gave me a good taste in my mouth about returning. I\u2019m excited about being back there.\u201d<\/p>\n Why Joe Flacco\u2019s Decision to Re-Sign With Bengals is Interesting<\/p>\n The decision to enter the season as an entrenched backup is a unique one for Flacco considering he has started 201 of his 209 appearances in the NFL. While he has entered seasons before as a backup, he has played the majority of his career with at least the chance to start.<\/p>\n That won\u2019t be the case entering this season unless Burrow \u2014 the Bengals\u2019 star franchise quarterback \u2014 suffers an injury.<\/p>\n Flacco expresses no regret over his decision to re-sign with the Bengals.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I\u2019m making a decision, then I\u2019m content and happy with that decision,\u201d said Flacco. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s my ideal situation, and I still have goals. I might not be like 100% exactly what I wanted. But once I make that decision, I\u2019m all in, you know. I don\u2019t look backwards, and I\u2019m not gonna feel bad about certain things. Like I said, I still have goals, and I think there\u2019s a lot of guys on the team that have goals and desires, and are hoping to at some point get to realize those. I\u2019m no different.\u201d<\/p>\n Joe Flacco Doesn\u2019t Have Retirement Age in Mind<\/p>\n When asked if he has a target age in mind for retirement, Flacco said he does not.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, I don\u2019t have a target age,\u201d said Flacco. \u201cI really don\u2019t. The biggest goals are to still go out there and play and win the football game. I\u2019d love to be able to go play and win some football games. I don\u2019t really think I have anything more specific than that.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDJ Siddiqi<\/a> covers the NFL for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has covered the NFL and NBA for Forbes, ClutchPoints, CBS Sports, 24\/7 Sports and Bleacher Report before joining Heavy. More about DJ Siddiqi<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty CINCINNATI, OHIO – DECEMBER 28: Joe Flacco #16 of the Cincinnati Bengals warms up prior to a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":946556,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2053],"tags":[228,227,256,2296,7,6],"class_list":["post-950537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cincinnati-bengals","tag-bengals","tag-cincinnati","tag-cincinnati-bengals","tag-cincinnatibengals","tag-football","tag-nfl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116951655952392174","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950537","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=950537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/950537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/946556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=950537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=950537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=950537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}