Bengals learn their place in Joe Flacco’s free agency aspirations and any outcome impacts Cincinnati greatly
Joe Flacco still wants to play, but Cincinnati is not out of the running just yet.
Joe Flacco wants to keep playing football, and his 2026 team may still be the Cincinnati Bengals.
Per NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero, Flacco is gunning for “at least” a competition to start at quarterback in free agency this week, but would “strong consider” re-signing with Cincinnati to be Joe Burrow’s backup once again.
Flacco threw for 1,636 yards and 13 touchdowns during his six starts for Cincinnati last season. The Bengals gave up a fifth-round pick in exchange for a sixth-rounder to acquire Flacco from the Cleveland Browns after Week 5 of the regular season.
Despite only winning one of his starts, the Bengals are more than interested in retaining Flacco for 2026. The club is looking to have a better backup QB solution than Jake Browning presented them after Burrow went down early in the year, and Flacco is a known fit in the system.
Re-signing Flacco is a priority, but it’s clear the 41-year old would prefer a situation that presents him the chance to start without an injury taking place. Another team signing him may not be Cincinnati’s preference, but it would impact the franchise in a potentially positive way.
If Joe Flacco leaves, the Bengals should want him to get paid and play
The Bengals are likely to walk down a careful line this free agency. Finding multiple defensive starters is a must, but in order to land a compensatory 2027 NFL Draft pick for letting Trey Hendrickson sign with another team, they must have more free agents leave for qualifying contracts and play the majority of the 2026 season than they sign to their own team.
Flacco happens to be one of the players who can help out with this task. Should he find a new team willing to start him Week 1, he’ll more than likely land a new contract that will be valuable enough to count toward the compensatory pick process. The cutoff is typically around $2-3 million in terms of Average Annual Value (AAV).
Flacco simply being a QB who can start matters here. Cincinnati’s other notable impending free agents such as Cam Taylor-Britt, Geno Stone, and Cordell Volson may not command AAVs to become part of the compensatory pick formula. Hendrickson and Joseph Ossai and safe bets, but neither one is expected to return whereas Flacco would be happily re-signed if his market doesn’t materialize the way he wants.
The goal may be to keep Flacco, but Cincy doesn’t have what he’s looking for right now. His potential leaving would at least help the Bengals get into position to receive any sort of compensation for losing Hendrickson.
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