Joe Flacco

Cincinnati Bengals·#16

Pos QBHt 6'6"Wt 245 lbExp 17 yrCollege Delaware

Model Score

62.7 MODEL

Resting on limited playing time

How good he is at what he is supposed to be doing, out of 100. Not a projection of what he will do next, and not a read on his contract. Median is about 70, and a 95 is rare. How it is built →

Season Stats · 12 games

2,47924th

Pass Yds

1525th

Pass TD

1028th

INT

60.9%34th

Comp %

3540th

Rush Yds

120th

Rush TD

12.432nd

Fantasy PPG

Advanced Metrics EPA & Next Gen Stats

-46.537th

Total EPA

-0.11435th

EPA / dropback

2.74s

Time to throw

7.3

Avg air yards

16.8%

Aggressiveness

50 yd32nd

Longest comp (air)

STM Take

The early Cincinnati stretch produced three straight games of 24+ PPR (Wk 7-9 hit 25.98, 24.32, 30.7), then his production cratered to under 10 PPR in five of the final seven weeks. His 2025 split (#18 Cincinnati, #48 Cleveland) tells you the floor depends entirely on supporting cast: a clean pocket with Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins outside, and the vertical arm still plays. Without that, he is below replacement.

Flacco came out of Delaware (after transferring from Pitt) as Baltimore's 1st-round pick (18th overall) in 2008. He won Super Bowl XLVII MVP after the 2012 season on the strength of an 11-touchdown, zero-interception postseason run, which produced a 117.2 playoff passer rating that stood as the modern benchmark for years. After Baltimore released him in 2019 he became a journeyman starter and emergency bridge: Denver, Jets, Browns, Colts, back to Cleveland (Comeback Player of the Year in 2023), and Cincinnati. He still plays a vertical, gunslinger brand at 41.

Strengths

Still has functional arm talent at 41; the Wk 7-9 Cincinnati stretch (25.98, 24.32, 30.7 PPR) and his 2023 Cleveland Comeback Player of the Year campaign prove starter-grade weeks remain available in the right context.
Repeated mid-tier rankings (#18-20) across CIN, IND, and CLE in 2023-2025 confirm a stable veteran ceiling. The Super Bowl XLVII pedigree still translates to clean-pocket downfield reps when the protection holds.

Concerns

Five of his last seven 2025 games scored under 10 PPR, including back-to-back-to-back outings under 2 PPR. The arm cannot carry a full-season workload anymore.
Mobility was never a feature and at 41 he is purely a stationary pocket passer. Career sack rate of 6.0% gets worse behind a compromised line, which Cincinnati cannot guarantee.

What to watch: Whether Cincinnati retains him as Burrow's backup for 2026; if Burrow misses time again, the late-2025 collapse below 10 PPR is the actual risk profile.