Getty New York Jets head coach Robert Saleh standing on the sideline during an NFL game.
Joe Flacco isn’t ready to hang them up just yet.
The three-year former New York Jets quarterback told Jamison Hensley of ESPN that, “I can still play.”
“That’s me talking, obviously. I’m hoping that there’s the silver lining that I’m not anywhere right now and that I can be available to anybody,” Flacco said to ESPN on Thursday September 7. “I’m not saying it’s going to be the truth, but if I was tied up with somebody as a backup and just didn’t play at all when all of a sudden three guys go down, well, I’d probably be in the back of my head be thinking, ‘Oh, man, would I have had an opportunity to go there?’ So, I do think that at the point that my career is in, it is a positive thing in a lot of ways that I’m not anywhere right now, because if somebody does need somebody, at least I’m available.”
NFL Said They Weren’t Interested in Flacco
Earlier this offseason, Flacco’s agent reached out to multiple NFL teams back in the spring to gauge interest in potentially signing the veteran quarterback.
However, the feeling didn’t appear to be mutual.
Flacco told Hensley that “there didn’t really seem to be too much that was biting” but he holds out hope that could change as we get into the 2023 season.
Flacco prides himself that at the ripe age of 38 he could join a team mid-season and give them a “fighting chance.”
“When people are really pressed to win some games, if they have to call on somebody, then they’d be more willing to get somebody like me who can hopefully come in and learn an offense pretty quickly and at least give you a fighting chance,” Flacco told ESPN.
The former Delaware product has played 15 seasons in the NFL and during that span of time has achieved a long list of accolades.
He has thrown for over 42,320 passing yards, owns a 232 touchdown to 147 interception ratio, and has a 99-81 record as a starting quarterback.
Back in 2013 he went on a magical playoff run with the team that drafted him, the Baltimore Ravens, and won a Super Bowl and the Super Bowl MVP honors.
Jets Unlikely to Be Landing Spot for Flacco’s Football Comeback
Flacco has spent the last three seasons with the Jets from 2020 through 2022. However, that streak is unlikely to continue in 2023.
Jets head coach Robert Saleh has openly professed his love for Flacco during press conferences. Gang Green general manager Joe Douglas was part of the Ravens staff when they selected him in the first round of the 2008 NFL draft.
#Jets HC Robert Saleh just sounded off on QB Joe Flacco (@JoeFlacco), ‘he could start in this league I believe that’ + ‘sometimes people get labeled & their opportunities get limited but Joe Flacco is a starting quarterback in this league’ 😤: 🎥 @nyjets #TakeFlight #JetsCamp
Although the Jets quarterback room appears set heading into the 2023 season.
Aaron Rodgers is the clearcut starter, Zach Wilson is the developing youngster at QB2, and Tim Boyle is on the practice squad as the veteran with system experience.
There just doesn’t appear to be any room for a 38-year-old veteran quarterback hoping to lace them up one more time.
Now that could change of course if an unexpected injury were to the Jets QB room. Suddenly Flacco could have a path as a backup, but if he truly has a desire to actually get on the field it will likely happen elsewhere.