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Since his final season with the Ravens back in 2018, quarterback Joe Flacco has been on several different teams, mainly serving as a backup.
But he's also been thought of as a veteran mentor for younger QBs.
He's likely to be in that role for another rookie in 2025, depending on what the Browns do at quarterback in next week's draft. Though he arguably already has it, as Kenny Pickett just entered the league in 2022.
Either way, Flacco noted in an interview with Ken Carman and Anthony Lima on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland that he feels folks throw around the term "mentor without truly understanding what a QBs room is about and how it works.
"I do think it’s important for young quarterbacks to be able to learn," Flacco said. "You don’t want to put a young quarterback in a football game before he’s actually ready because there’s just so many things, and the cycle in this league these days is just so quick. You want these guys to be ready, and I do think there’s huge advantages to be able to sit back and … gain that confidence and really, really learn the game, and get the team surrounded in a good way so that you can go out there and have success.
"And I think that stuff happens naturally through competition in different rooms. The more competition you have and the more people you have competing, the more conversations come up and the more people learn. I think that’s true not just in sports, but in every environment. You want good people in a room together that can push each other and then you’ll get the most out of everybody."
Interestingly, Flacco made the point that the slotted rookie contracts — that did not exist when he was drafted in 2008 — have changed the way teams select and then attempt to develop young QBs.
"I don’t want to necessarily get myself into trouble by like giving you my exact thoughts on what’s going on in the league right now," Flacco said. "But, everybody wants to get everybody out there right away. And listen, I get it. When I was a rookie, I wanted to play right away. That really wasn’t the plan, but I did want to play right away. I think these days, though, just becuase there’s not — you don’t have to commit as much money in the draft to these guys. Obviously, the top picks are still getting a good amount of money. But they’re not getting the type of money that was starting to happen when I was a rookie. When you were a top draft pick, you were assigned a lot of money.
"I think it’s become a little bit easier to draft these guys a little bit higher. So now you’re getting guys who haven’t played a ton of college games, maybe, and you’ve drafted them so high. So now, there’s a lot of pressure to get these guys on the field right away. So now, just by that, just by the sheer numbers of it, you’re going to get a couple guys that were probably drafted a little bit higher than they would’ve been 15-20 years ago, because you would’ve really had to make a big commitment to them 20 years ago that you don’t quite have to make now. And then because you do draft them so high, you have to play them. So now there’s just naturally going to be a couple guys here and there that maybe you drafted in the top five or top 10, that maybe 20 years ago, they would’ve been second-round picks, and they would’ve been willing to keep them on the bench for a little bit. And now because they were the third pick overall, you have to play them, and they’re not quite ready. And then mentally, it hurts their development. So, there’s a lot of things I think that you could probably say, and that’s what I’ll go with."
Since departing the Ravens when Lamar Jackson took over, Flacco has been around young QBs like Drew Lock with the Broncos, Sam Darnold and Zach Wilson with the Jets, and Anthony Richardson last year. With Flacco and Pickett in the room, the Browns won’t have to put a rookie QB on the field in 2025 if they don’t want to do so.
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But he's also been thought of as a veteran mentor for younger QBs.
He's likely to be in that role for another rookie in 2025, depending on what the Browns do at quarterback in next week's draft. Though he arguably already has it, as Kenny Pickett just entered the league in 2022.
Either way, Flacco noted in an interview with Ken Carman and Anthony Lima on 92.3 The Fan in Cleveland that he feels folks throw around the term "mentor without truly understanding what a QBs room is about and how it works.
"I do think it’s important for young quarterbacks to be able to learn," Flacco said. "You don’t want to put a young quarterback in a football game before he’s actually ready because there’s just so many things, and the cycle in this league these days is just so quick. You want these guys to be ready, and I do think there’s huge advantages to be able to sit back and … gain that confidence and really, really learn the game, and get the team surrounded in a good way so that you can go out there and have success.
"And I think that stuff happens naturally through competition in different rooms. The more competition you have and the more people you have competing, the more conversations come up and the more people learn. I think that’s true not just in sports, but in every environment. You want good people in a room together that can push each other and then you’ll get the most out of everybody."
Interestingly, Flacco made the point that the slotted rookie contracts — that did not exist when he was drafted in 2008 — have changed the way teams select and then attempt to develop young QBs.
"I don’t want to necessarily get myself into trouble by like giving you my exact thoughts on what’s going on in the league right now," Flacco said. "But, everybody wants to get everybody out there right away. And listen, I get it. When I was a rookie, I wanted to play right away. That really wasn’t the plan, but I did want to play right away. I think these days, though, just becuase there’s not — you don’t have to commit as much money in the draft to these guys. Obviously, the top picks are still getting a good amount of money. But they’re not getting the type of money that was starting to happen when I was a rookie. When you were a top draft pick, you were assigned a lot of money.
"I think it’s become a little bit easier to draft these guys a little bit higher. So now you’re getting guys who haven’t played a ton of college games, maybe, and you’ve drafted them so high. So now, there’s a lot of pressure to get these guys on the field right away. So now, just by that, just by the sheer numbers of it, you’re going to get a couple guys that were probably drafted a little bit higher than they would’ve been 15-20 years ago, because you would’ve really had to make a big commitment to them 20 years ago that you don’t quite have to make now. And then because you do draft them so high, you have to play them. So now there’s just naturally going to be a couple guys here and there that maybe you drafted in the top five or top 10, that maybe 20 years ago, they would’ve been second-round picks, and they would’ve been willing to keep them on the bench for a little bit. And now because they were the third pick overall, you have to play them, and they’re not quite ready. And then mentally, it hurts their development. So, there’s a lot of things I think that you could probably say, and that’s what I’ll go with."
Since departing the Ravens when Lamar Jackson took over, Flacco has been around young QBs like Drew Lock with the Broncos, Sam Darnold and Zach Wilson with the Jets, and Anthony Richardson last year. With Flacco and Pickett in the room, the Browns won’t have to put a rookie QB on the field in 2025 if they don’t want to do so.
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