Joe Flacco will play football for as long as he can
Browns quarterback Joe Flacco will be, as of Monday, a free agent. He'll revert to the practice squad, and any team will be eligible to sign him to the active roster.
The Browns presumably will offer, and Flacco presumably will accept.
The situation is unprecedented. Coach Kevin Stefanski named Flacco the starter for the rest of the season. Even though Flacco isn't really on the team.
"I'm hearing that first here," Flacco said by phone last night when I asked for his reaction to being given the starting role. "Listen, just so grateful to have the opportunity a couple weeks ago. And you never know where things are going to take you. And we don't know what lies ahead at this point either. But man, it's been a blast. It's been so much fun to be back out in that field."
Despite twice being the highest-paid player in NFL history and the Super Bowl XLVII MVP, Flacco didn't walk away when his days as a sure-fire starter ended. He keeps sticking around, and it's clearly not for the money.
"I love the game," he said. "That's the first reason. And the second reason is I have a lot of people around me that allow me to believe in myself. I still feel like I can play the game, so that's the main thing is, you know, I feel like I owe it to myself. I put in all this work. I'm 38 years old. I got the rest of my life ahead of me, hopefully, and you know, I'm going to play football as long as I can. It's a special thing. And like I said, I think the biggest thing with that is that I have people around me that also believe me and that want me to do it. They also believe I can do it, should do it. I think I'm obviously very fortunate because of that."
Flacco's support system consists of his wife and five children, aged 11 to five.
"My kids are a huge driver," Flacco said. "I don't know if . . . I can describe how special it is to be able to play meaningful games in front of my children at the ages that they are. I'm going to remember this forever. You know, they probably will too. But, ultimately, I'm going to remember this for the rest of my life and I think it's just such a unique experience. You know, my parents have obviously always been there and pushing me along, not allowing me to give up in certain situations."
Flacco is still as surprised as anyone by the fact that the journey continues. I asked him if he ever got to the point this year where he thought the phone wouldn't right.
"I mean, it was probably right around the time where it did ring," Flacco said.
After his performance on Sunday, his phone could be ringing off the hook today. Chances are he'll only answer the inevitable call from the Browns.
