Perhaps it seems crazy that some clubs would opt to start the NFL season with seemingly over-the-hill passers. But the alternatives are likely worse.
Joe Flacco is once again a QB1 in the NFL. So is Russell Wilson. And Aaron Rodgers.Geno Smith, too. Heck, Daniel Jones might be also.
A kneejerk reaction of “Why?” would be understandable as it relates to these apparent has-beens, yet there’s no one-size-fits-all NFL answer to that question. However old men – in terms of football years anyway – serving as Band-Aids for teams in some manner distress actually makes a lot of sense for nearly all parties involved.
It’s no secret franchise quarterbacks don’t grow on trees. There are maybe 12 teams in the league that can confidently claim they’re securely settled at the position for the foreseeable future, both in terms of performance and finances. Maybe. (And, admittedly, "the foreseeable future" in the NFL has frequently been known to shift as suddenly as the timeline of a “Terminator” movie.)
There might be another dozen or so clubs hoping they’ve got the right guy on their roster, and early returns from the likes of C.J. Stroud or Drake Maye or Bo Nix, for example, suggest that’s probably at least a solid assumption.
Then you’ve got Flacco’s Cleveland Browns. And Rodgers’ Pittsburgh Steelers. And Wilson’s New York Giants. And Smith’s Las Vegas Raiders. With the probable exception of Smith, each of these organizations will likely start 2026 with another guy behind center. So why tread water with any of these temps now given each of these teams − save Pittsburgh − seems very likely bound for a last-place finish in 2025?
Because pro football is a unique game. It requires collective buy-in and, to some degree, selflessness other team sports don’t while also featuring a position – quarterback – which typically determines the fates of so many others on and off the field. A wide receiver can’t just post 25 points and 10 rebounds and call it a night – and certainly won’t routinely catch nine balls for 130 yards and TD without a reliable guy throwing to him. A linebacker on a great defense can’t hit .350 for an otherwise bad team and go home under the illusion his job is secure. Head coaches and general managers can’t truly opt to tank in the NFL with the assurance they’ll retain their posts after a 2-15 death march … or that such a theoretical tank would even actually bring the can’t-miss player who would undoubtedly revitalize an organization and fan base … or that the other guys on the roster will agree to burning one of the (maybe) four years they get in the league with the consequential poor tape that may not get them a shot to play elsewhere.
And so you turn to retread field generals and hope for the best – whatever that might be.
In 2023, free agent Flacco literally rose from his couch and saved Cleveland’s season with a Comeback Player of the Year performance that landed the Browns a surprising playoff berth. Last season − rightly or wrongly − Wilson took the baton in Pittsburgh and got the Steelers into postseason yet again. Smith surprisingly managed it, too, while supplanting Wilson in Seattle in 2022. What did it mean for those squads? Galvanized locker rooms. Captivating runs for their cities. Maybe the fleeting hope of a Nick Foles-esque magic carpet ride like the Philadelphia Eagles experienced in 2017 – or, heck, like the sublime heater Flacco and the 2012 Baltimore Ravens converted into a Super Bowl 47 triumph 12 years ago.
But more than likely, you’re enjoying short-term gains in exchange for playoff disappointment and probably another ticket back to the QB hamster wheel. The Browns, Steelers, Seahawks, New York Jets – four-time league MVP Rodgers wasn’t the savior they’d hoped for – and Giants have been stuck in neutral for years while playing quarterback roulette rather than meaningfully solving the position. Same goes for the Indianapolis Colts, who continue wondering if Anthony Richardson is their post-Andrew Luck solution … even as the layovers of Flacco, Jones and Gardner Minshew have suggested otherwise.
But what’s the alternative?
All 32 teams are currently deadlocked with 0-0 records ahead of their upcoming 2025 regular-season openers. This is the time to hope Flacco or Wilson can catch lightning in a bottle, unlikely as it is that they contain it for 18 or more weeks. Yet young teammates can hope the grizzled vets can get them on the road to the promised land. If not? Then it’s time for new prayers.
That’s when Cleveland turns to Shedeur Sanders and/or Dillon Gabriel after they’ve had an opportunity to observe the gargantuan ask ahead of them while the Browns somehow hope Tom Brady 2.0 − or even Tom Brady 0.7 − emerges from the QB chrysalis. Fairly similar situation for Giants rookie Jaxson Dart, confident and ready as he already seems. But why throw a rookie in if there’s an experienced alternative like Wilson to navigate the outset of what is the league’s hardest schedule in 2025 based on opponents' 2024 winning percentages?
If the vet sinks instead of swimming, then the rook gets the belated benefit of better-informed playing time while the team likely still sails toward a poor record that will provide further options the next year anyway.
It’s rare to see a young quarterback start, struggle and later come through a potentially confidence-shattering benching intact. It would also be folly to prematurely tab a youngster who either isn’t ready or saddled with a substandard supporting cast, watch him flounder and then ask a guy like Wilson to make lemonade with a 2-9 record. As former NFL running back Ricky Watters once infamously said, “For who, for what?"
At least Rodgers, his teammates, Steelers coach Mike Tomlin and GM Omar Khan know they’re all chips in for 2025 … even if they’re gambling that a pair of nines will help them secure the pot no matter how bad a hand and draft bankroll that might produce six months hence.
And so these franchises forge ahead – hoping for the best, knowing the worst is likelier … and desperately wishing their circumstances in the NFL’s version of purgatory have miraculously changed a year from now.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Joe Flacco is atop Browns' depth chart for many reasons – like these
Category: Football
