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Joe Flacco is keeping it real.
The 40-year-old is, by far, the oldest of five quarterbacks on the Cleveland Browns, two of whom are rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.
However, he was brutally honest when he was asked about mentoring the younger quarterbacks in the room, who include Deshaun Watson and Kenny Pickett.
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Jan 13, 2024; Houston, Texas, USA; Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco (15) throws the ball during the second quarter in a 2024 AFC wild card game at NRG Stadium. (Troy Taormina-USA Today Sports)
“If I say, ‘I don’t want to be a mentor,’ I look bad. If I say, ‘I do want to be a mentor,’ I look like an idiot that doesn’t care about being good and playing football, . . .” Flacco told reporters on Thursday. “I tend to try to be honest. And I’ve said, ‘I’m not a mentor; I play football.’ And in a quarterback room… there have been a ton of times where there have been learning experiences, and I have a lot of experience. And I can talk on things. And, hopefully, they listen. But it’s not necessarily my job to make sure they listen to me. Hopefully, you have a really good relationship with the guys that are in the room. And you naturally want to do that.”
Cleveland Browns quarterbacks Kenny Pickett, left, Dillon Gabriel, center, and Joe Flacco warm up during an NFL practice at the Cleveland Browns training facility on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Berea, Ohio. (Jeff Lange / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
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But it goes without saying that the long-term, and maybe even the short-term, futures for the Browns do not include Flacco – and one of his former Baltimore Ravens teammates took offense at Flacco’s comments.
“Mentoring a young player is only going to make that player better, which makes the team better,” Chris Canty Friday on ESPN’s “Unsportsmanlike.” “You’re only as strong as your weakest link. The whole point of the exercise is that everybody makes everyone better. That’s why you practice. You’re making each other better. It’s what you’re supposed to do. You do that with the reps on the practice field, but you also do that by sharing points and notes in the film room.”
“It’s a ridiculous answer from Joe Flacco. There’s no guarantee Joe Flacco is going to be healthy for 17 games, especially at 40 years old.”
Flacco is in his second stint with Cleveland, having played for them in the 2023 season. He won the AP Comeback Player of the Year Award after throwing for 1,616 yards and 13 touchdowns in five games where he went 4-1.
Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco, left, chats with rookie Shedeur Sanders during an NFL practice at the Cleveland Browns training facility on Wednesday, May 28, 2025, in Berea, Ohio. (Jeff Lange / USA Today Network via Imagn Images)
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Canty and Flacco spent three years together in Baltimore, where the quarterback spent his first 11 NFL seasons. Canty’s Baltimore stint came after he spent four years with both the Cowboys and Giants, the latter of whom he won a Super Bowl with.
The 2025 season will be Flacco’s 18th.
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