Joe Flacco: I do believe it is very important for young QBs
Considering that his final season with the Ravens back in 2018, quarterback Joe Flacco has been on several different groups, generally functioning as a backup.
But he’s likewise been considered a veteran mentor for more youthful QBs.
He’s most likely to be because role for another novice in 2025, depending on what the Browns do at quarterback in next week’s draft. Though he perhaps already has it, as Kenny Pickett simply got in the league in 2022.
In any case, 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 “coach 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 discover,” Flacco said. “You do not wish to put a young quarterback in a football game before he’s actually all set because there’s so numerous things, and the cycle in this league these days is so fast. You want these guys to be prepared, and I do think there’s big advantages to be able to kick back and … gain that self-confidence and truly, actually learn the game, and get the team surrounded in an excellent way so that you can go out there and have success.
“And I believe that things occurs naturally through competitors in various spaces. The more competitors you have and the more individuals you have completing, the more conversations come up and the more people learn. I believe that holds true not just in sports, but in every environment. You want excellent individuals in a room together that can press each other and then you’ll get the most out of everyone.”
Interestingly, Flacco made the point that the slotted rookie contracts– that did not exist when he was drafted in 2008– have actually altered the method teams choose and after that effort to develop young QBs.
“I don’t want to necessarily get myself into problem by like giving you my precise ideas on what’s going on in the league right now,” Flacco stated. “But, everybody wants to get everyone out there immediately. And listen, I get it. When I was a rookie, I wished to play right now. That really wasn’t the plan, but I did want to play right now. I believe nowadays, however, simply becuase there’s not– you do not need to commit as much money in the draft to these guys. Obviously, the top choices are still getting a good amount of money. But they’re not getting the kind of money that was beginning to happen when I was a novice. When you were a leading draft pick, you were appointed a lot of money.
“I think it’s ended up being a little bit simpler to prepare these guys a little bit higher. So now you’re getting guys who have not played a lots of college games, perhaps, and you have actually prepared them so high. So now, there’s a great deal of pressure to get these guys on the field immediately. So now, simply by that, just by the sheer varieties of it, you’re going to get a couple guys that were probably drafted a bit greater than they would’ve been 15-20 years ago, because you would’ve actually had to make a huge dedication to them twenty years ago that you do not quite need to make now. And after that since you do draft them so high, you need to play them. So now there’s simply naturally going to be a couple guys here and there that possibly you prepared in the leading 5 or top 10, that possibly twenty years earlier, they would’ve been second-round choices, and they would’ve been willing to keep them on the bench for a bit. And now since they were the 3rd pick overall, you have to play them, and they’re not quite ready. And after that psychologically, it hurts their advancement. So, there’s a lot of things I believe that you might probably state, which’s what I’ll opt for.”
Considering that 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 in 2015. With Flacco and Pickett in the room, the Browns won’t have to put a novice QB on the field in 2025 if they don’t wish to do so.