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During the 2025 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns added not one but two new quarterbacks to a room that already featured Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett: Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders.
Now, for the Browns, this decision was all good news, as even if they have to pay Dashaun Watson a king's ransom to most likely not play in 2025, the team now has four different passers on team-friendly deals who can sling the ball this summer as Andrew Berry looks to build out his 53 man roster.
Some fans like Sanders' long-term potential. Others see Gabriel as the player Cleveland clearly wanted more in the draft. And others still believe in Pickett, even if he was ultimately traded out of the AFC North in order to win a Super Bowl as a backup in Philadelphia.
But what about Flacco? Surely he would appreciate that in this, his 18th professional season, he has the potential to mentor a new generation of quarterbacks into the starting lineup, right? Well, Flacco was asked that very question at Browns camp, and let it be known he doesn't give a hoot about the mentor narrative, as he believes it puts veteran quarterbacks in a can't-win situation.
“It's a talking point, you can kind of like use it, like, because it's a good question to bait somebody into answering, and no matter how they answer it, it kind of makes the guy that's answering it look bad. If I say I don't want to be a mentor, I look bad. If I say I do want to be a mentor, then I look like an idiot that doesn't care about being good and playing football,” Flacco declared.
“So it's one of those questions that no matter what I say, you guys can write what you want to write about it. And there's a lot of questions like that, that's why you end up having to try to avoid them. I tend to try to be honest. And I've said, I'm not a mentor, I play football.”
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Interesting stuff, right? Well, Flacco wasn't done, as he had plenty more to say on where he believes he fits into an NFL locker room in 2025.
“And in a quarterback room, there's a lot of times, already, there's been already a ton of times where there's 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 and, you know, hey, hopefully you have a really good relationship with the guys that are in the room. And you naturally want to do that, you know, but that was a long-winded answer, but that's ultimately why I think you guys ask it, you know. Here's the thing, because of what I just said, you're acting like I wouldn't want to be a mentor,” Flacco explained.
“And once again, it's not really about that. It's just not the main focus. I see myself as a guy that can play in this league. So if your main focus was just like, hey, I'm going to get you ready, you're just not taking care of business. The best way to be a mentor, honestly, is show people how you go to work, you know. And like I said, hope that they pick up on that stuff. But not necessarily force them to pick up on the things that you do.”
So if Flacco does lose the quarterback competition to Pickett, Gabriel, or Sanders, either right out of the gates or as the season progresses, will he immediately shut down, leaving his teammates with a resentful clipboard holder? Or will he offer up his wealth of experience to his teammates, some of whom only know an NFL where he is playing quarterback? While Flacco clearly wants to play, he's willing to share his knowledge too, even if that isn't why he signed with the Browns in the first place.
Joe Flacco gets very candid about the whole being a mentor narrative #Browns pic.twitter.com/oBjr8CsSal
— Daryl Ruiter (@RuiterWrongFAN) May 28, 2025
