CINCINNATI — Joe Flacco may not have been the Bengals’ first choice of quarterback options to try to save the 2025 season.
ESPN’s Dan Graziano reported the team never had any interest in Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston, or Kirk Cousins but did have some “chatter” surrounding the Eagles’ Sam Howell and the Seahawks’ Drew Lock.
“When Joe Burrow got hurt, the Bengals truly did believe that Jake Browning would be a capable fill-in and play better than he has over the past four games,” Graziano noted. “They weren’t intending to trade for a quarterback. But after a third straight loss, they spent Sunday and Monday calling around to pretty much any team that had more than two quarterbacks on its roster. I’m told that neither of the Giants’ veterans — Russell Wilson or Jameis Winston– was ever a real possibility, nor was Atlanta’s Kirk Cousins. There was some chatter about Drew Lock in Seattle, Sam Howell in Philadelphia — guys like that. But teams aren’t eager to trade from their QB depth.
“The Bengals ended up with 40-year-old veteran Joe Flacco. While it sounded pre-trade like the Bengals weren’t expecting any new acquisition to be able to play right away, post-trade, it sounds like they think Flacco might be able to start for them this week against the Packers (and if not, then next Thursday against the Steelers). Cincinnati is 2-3 in an AFC North that has been turned upside-down by the Burrow injury and everything the Ravens are dealing with at the moment, and it feels obligated to try to stay in the race, especially if it still has any hope of Burrow returning by season’s end.”
Flacco is their guy now as the entire offense tries to climb out of the NFL’s basement, where they aren’t much further behind his old team in Cleveland.
He’s been benched once already this year for a rookie, but maybe just maybe a new environment with way better weapons can flip his 2025 trajectory.
We will start to find out this Sunday in a road matchup against the Packers at 4:25 p.m. ET.
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