Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Flacco On Why He Continues To Play, How He’s Able To Extend His NFL Career With Cleats
· Yahoo Sports
Joe Flacco details his thought process in re-signing with the Cincinnati Bengals, why he continues to play and how Caddix Cleats is helping extend his NFL career. (Photo by Ben Jackson/Getty Images)
Getty ImagesJoe Flacco will be continuing his NFL career for another season.
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The 41-year-old who first entered the scene as the Baltimore Ravens' franchise quarterback in 2008 is signing a one-year deal to return to the Cincinnati Bengals.
Flacco spent the end of last season with the Bengals after beginning the year with the Cleveland Browns. After starting out the year as the Browns' starting quarterback, he was traded to the Bengals where he started six games due to Joe Burrow's turf toe injury.
Although Flacco went just 1-5 as the Bengals' starter, his numbers were more than solid, throwing 13 touchdowns against just four interceptions for a 91.0 passer rating. Flacco actually clinched the first Pro Bowl bid of his career last season.
"I think that as your career goes on, you gain a certain perspective of finding value in some different things," said Flacco in a one-on-one interview. "I think ultimately you're always looking to go on the field and play at a high level. But there's other ways that you can fulfill your need for some competition and things like that. I think being in a good organization with a bunch of teammates that you enjoy being around and a bunch of coaches that you enjoy being around, kind of all partaking in that decision."
Flacco -- who spoke just prior to news leaking that he was re-signing with the Bengals -- spoke of his approach to free agency at this stage of his career. The former Super Bowl MVP has played for seven different teams in his NFL career. He said winning still remains the priority at this stage of his career.
The 41-year-old is accustomed to being a part of a winning organization, having played 11 seasons in Baltimore. During his 11 seasons as the starting quarterback, the Ravens made it to the playoffs seven times and posted a losing season just once.
"Usually you end up presented with an option or two," said Flacco. "If you're presented with two options, there's pros and cons to each and you kind of gotta weigh it, just like anybody else would. But the most important thing when it comes to being somebody my age is, is if you do see the field, is there an ability to go win football games?
"I think the priority is always with winning," Flacco continued to say. "But as your years get up there even more, and your years are coming to an end, you want to be playing meaningful football. I think that's always the most important thing."
Flacco is expected to serve as the backup quarterback to Joe Burrow. He'll also potentially battle with fellow veteran Josh Johnson for a spot on the roster, with the Bengals signing the 39-year-old journeyman quarterback.
The Bengals are coming off of a 6-11 year, but they were 9-8 in each of the past two seasons before that. Cincinnati has been plagued by slow starts to the season and injuries suffered by Burrow. Burrow missed nine games last year and seven games during the 2023 season due to injury.
Considering Cincinnati is built to compete with the expectation of being a playoff team, the situation could very well present itself where Flacco could start if Burrow misses time due to injury.
"That's correct," Flacco said of the biggest priority being to win at this stage of his career. "I've been through playing where I've been playing, but it's kind of tough to win and there's a time to be a part of a rebuild and to feel the success and deal with all the hard work that goes into that.
"But when you start to kind of get towards the end, you don’t necessarily know if you have time for that," Flacco continued to say. "You want to go somewhere that's going to give you a chance to play some meaningful games if that may be the case."
Joe Flacco On What’s Helping Keep Him Healthy, Mentions Use Of Caddix Cleats
As Flacco begins his 19th season in the NFL, he'll be doing so wearing a certain type of cleat that he's worn since 2024 when he was a member of the Indianapolis Colts. Those specific types of shoes are none other than Caddix Cleats, which were created with the intention of reducing non-contact leg injuries by taking away the stress load to your leg when moving.
Flacco said he wears the cleats every time he plays and in every game and mentioned that it was his former Ravens teammates, tight ends Dennis Pitta and Todd Heap, who introduced him to the shoes. Pitta and Heap serve as company advisors and investors, with Flacco recently being announced as an investor himself.
"I think the biggest thing for me was initially I should say getting to the point where it's like, 'Okay, yeah, I'll wear these,' was the comfort of them," said Flacco. "They're a well-built cleat, and I think the technology in the cleat bottoms has something to do with that comfort. Because instead of being so rigid like a typical shoe, it gave that little bit that you can't really tell, but I do think it added to the comfort of it.
"I think it passed the initial test of like, 'Okay, yeah they're comfortable, let's see what they're all about,'" said Flacco. "And then other than that, it's kind of been like, 'Okay, they're comfortable. They fit.' They got great traction on Turf and grass. And it did things real with the added benefit of the cleat bottom technology. It's kind of a no-brainer for myself, and that's kind of where I was at."
The cleats have SmartStuds that reduce rotational force to limit knee and ankle injuries. Flacco has actually been completely healthy over the past two seasons, avoiding major injury while wearing the cleats.
Other players such as the San Francisco 49ers' Kyle Juszczyk and the Arizona Cardinals' Budda Baker also wear Caddix Cleats. More recently, NFL great Tom Brady wore the cleats leading into his flag football showcase.
Jack Rasmussen is the CEO and founder of Caddix Cleats, and ironically he's from the Baltimore area. He detailed what kind of effect the SmartStuds have and how there hadn't been any innovation for years when it came to cleats and improving the effectiveness in reducing injuries for players. Rasmussen was a punter in college football.
"From an athlete's perspective, it has to make sense," said Rasmussen. "You have to look at something, and it has to be intuitive enough for you to want to put it on. I think when those studs flex, every athlete has seen their teammate go down left or right with a non-contact knee or ankle injury. The relationship with the ground is a very precarious relationship. If you think about football, we wear helmets with the chance of you hitting someone with your head maybe five-to-10 times a game. But your foot may contact with the ground maybe 100 or 1000 times a game. Cleats haven't innovated in decades, and that seems like it's long overdue.
"If we can have any flex and give at the ground level, whether it be turf or grass, before that energy propagates up the chain to your ankle, knee and hip, that's why players like Joe are able to play at the age he's playing," said Rasmussen. "That's why Tom Brady put them on. It's intuitive enough to make sense. The data on these things from a biomechanical standpoint is one thing, but having athletes take them off their feet after a long practice or game and say, 'Well, I'm not stiff, swollen or sore.' That incontrovertible data is what we focus on."
Flacco continued to detail why he's a big supporter of Caddix Cleats and why he wears it for every game.
"It's tough to talk about the safety aspect of it when you're just wearing the cleat, it's tough to say, 'Oh yeah, I feel this, and I feel that,'" said Flacco. "Because you really don't feel the movement of the stud. And I think that to the advantage of what Jack has created, I don't think you want to be out there feeling like you're slipping and sliding a little bit and moving maybe a little bit more unstable than you would like. So, you know, so besides, in terms of wearing them and getting over that barrier with other players, I think a lot of it has to do with the comfort of it. And I think I just think it'd be wrong for me to say that the cleats aren't actually a part of that, because sometimes you do deal with bottoms that are just so rigid, and your foot starts turning into cleat, you know, a way that you don't want it to, and developing blisters. And I haven't had any issues with that."
The 41-year-old has five kids and he said his kids wear Caddix Cleats. Flacco mentioned the importance of wearing the cleats to prevent injuries from occurring, mentioning the popularity of youth sports.
"The biggest thing for me was that I don't only have myself to think about," said Flacco of why he wears Caddix Cleats. "I kind of started to think about things in terms of what my kids are going to be putting on their feet. When you go there, you start to think about everybody's kids, and all the kids that play these sports. Jack was talking about how many times our feet make contact, the relationship with our feet in the ground during a game. Just think about the kids that are playing soccer and lacrosse and football, and who knows what else. For me, I have five children of my own. That was kind of right where my mind immediately went.
"Not only was I thinking about myself, I was like how can I get my kids into these things, and kind of help them prolong their young athletic careers as much as possible," said Flacco. "Because I think even more devastating than an injury as an adult, sometimes those young 13,14 years old or high school age students deal with these non-contact injuries. They're not really as strong as a grown adult, professional athlete. I think a lot of the value is getting over the hump with those kids, more so than even us. That was where my mind went when these guys kind of approached me with it."