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A unique experience for Joe Flacco, the 19-year vet Joe Flacco still finds himself “overwhelmed.” And it’s a feeling that he craves. He has been in the NFL for 19 years and played on six different teams. He’s not short on experience. He’s not even new to the Cincinnati Bengals’ scheme, having picked it up on the fly in the middle of last season. But as he goes through his first training camp with the Bengals, what stands out to him the most is the continuity between players and coaches who have been in Cincinnati for a while and what that does for the entire offense. “We have so much (installed) that you can get overwhelmed with the amount of stuff we have in,” Flacco said. “It’s a good test. When you have so much in and every day you have to recall certain things, it can be good for your confidence because you can confirm to yourself that you can do those things.” This is the fun part for him. Flacco, 41 years old, signed up to be Joe Burrow’s backup because of how much he loves coming to work. “This is a pretty cool place to be,” Flacco said. “There’s a cool feeling you get when you’re in here. These guys have worked together for a good amount of time. You can tell that. There’s definitely a camaraderie about these guys that’s maybe a little bit unique to this locker room. There’s definitely something about these guys having spent time together, the coaches and the players here. There’s a closeness because of that.” It’s Year 7 for Joe Burrow, who has had the same head coach, Zac Taylor, for his entire career. Offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher was Burrow’s quarterbacks coach before earning a promotion. Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have been around forever. This year, the Bengals bring back all 11 starters on offense, most of the team’s most prominent depth pieces and the entire coaching staff. The continuity allows for some pretty high-level conversations as well as one of the more sophisticated systems in the NFL. The standard is high. The talent is there. Being a part of this offense every day, even if Flacco is exclusively working with the second-team offense on the practice field, is really enjoyable for him. “I like that we’re aggressive,” Flacco said. “I like that we have answers for a lot of different things that a defense gives you. They trust the quarterback will get the job done. They put a lot of trust in the skill players. They put a lot on the offensive line’s plate. We’re just not afraid to do things. We want to go score points. It shows with the way we game plan for teams and the way we attack defenses.” Flacco could have been at home all summer, like he was in 2023, and waited for a quarterback-needy team to call him when someone got hurt. This year, he signed with the Bengals in April, which was earlier than anyone anticipated. When it became clear that Flacco wasn’t going to be offered a starting job elsewhere, he jumped at the opportunity to return to Cincinnati. The Bengals valued him, offering Flacco $6 million to back up Burrow. “When he comes in and proves he can be a valuable piece for you, you want to get those guys back if you can,” Duke Tobin said. “We understood he wanted to look around a little bit, which was great. We wanted him to get what he wanted. Ultimately, he wanted to be back here. We made that work.” Because of how early he signed, Flacco got a full offseason in Cincinnati. In 2025, he had to learn the offense in a couple of days after the Bengals traded for him on a Tuesday. His preference is to learn an offense the way that he is now in training camp. “You get back into the mental gymnastics of going through situations,” Flacco said on Tuesday. “Today, for instance, the defense brought some Cover-0 (blitzes). You talk about doing it. Then, you only get to do it once or twice. In training camp, you get to walk through it. You get to rep it. It’s those reps that build up the muscle memory. “Now, to be able to learn it all through and learn where certain things came from and why we do them, that gives you a better understanding to use some tools out there on your own as opposed to just trying to just do everything right.” He says that the biggest difference between being a starting quarterback in training camp and being the backup is the number of reps that he’s getting. Flacco said that his more limited reps as the backup quarterback have reinforced the importance of being “locked in and paying attention to every situation.” Also, as the backup, he’s primarily working with the pass catchers who are fighting for roles and roster spots. “That’s a pretty cool situation for me,” Flacco said. “A lot of times, when you work with young receivers, you’re usually a 23-year-old quarterback who’s trying to learn stuff yourself. For me, it’s a unique experience. I’ve been around so long and am not trying to learn so much myself. They can learn a bit more because they’re going to be put in more situations and called on to do a bit more than they would if I was 23 and was trying to learn the offense as well.” Flacco is catching snaps from backup center Connor Lew, who’s the youngest player on the team (20 years old). With the second-team offense, Flacco is getting really familiar with young receivers like Dohnte Meyers and Colbie Young. “He’s a chill guy,” Young said. “After every play, good or bad, he’ll give his thoughts on what could be better or what I did well. It’s good to have that kind of wisdom in the room.” The biggest lesson Young has learned, he says, is “being ready for the ball at any time.” “When there’s a lot of tags on (the play), he likes to let the ball go. Be ready.” After practice, Flacco will pull up a chair at the “offensive line table” in the locker room and hang out with the linemen. He has a lot of connections across the locker room, from Joe Burrow to the guys at the back of the roster. “Yeah, he’s an older guy in our locker room,” backup tight end Tanner Hudson said. “He goofs around and kids around with us like any other quarterback. It’s fun to have him here. It’s fun to learn from him. He’s smart. He sees the field really well. His arm is very impressive. He can sling it 50 yards without any effort.” When he gives advice to a young player, Flacco finds himself dropping lines that a coach said to him 20 years ago. These are moments where he feels old. “I hate looking at myself sometimes with all of the stuff that I talk about,” Flacco said. “But things come up. It’s football. There are always these parallels to things that happened at some point in your career. It’s natural to share those things.” Other than those dated references, he doesn’t think much about his age. During the offseason, he did pretty much the same routine that he has done for his entire career. He’s not taking it easy. “I’ve been doing this for almost 20 years now,” Flacco said. “The basics are the same.” Immediately after the season ends, he takes some time off from throwing. As he gets closer to training camp, he starts ramping up his volume of dropbacks. He makes sure to use his legs throughout the offseason, and “consistency in the weight room” is an important part of his approach. He’s not Lamar Jackson out there, but Flacco did show that he’s still got it with a first down run last year against the Steelers. Flacco’s arm looks like it hasn’t aged at all. “I feel good,” Flacco said. “I’m me. Only I know how I’ve felt and how I feel right now. I’d say I feel really good. It’s more of a talking point and things for the outside to think of. I don’t view myself as being any age. I’m just a football player.” He’s having a good camp. Flacco has been the quarterback to deliver most of the splash play highlights for Young this summer. Recently, he fit a deep throw to Charlie Jones in a very tight window for an explosive play down the field. On Tuesday, Flacco led a two-minute drill and set up a “game-winning” field goal. “I love playing this game,” Flacco said. “You can look at practice and feel pressure about it, which I still do. There’s something that we crave about that pressure that calls to us and forces us to go out there and perform. That’s pretty addicting.” He’s happy to be here. “Ultimately, you’re going out there and hanging out with a bunch of cool guys and doing something that you love,” Flacco said. “Being able to have that perspective makes it a lot of fun. You’re playing a kid’s game, and that’s ultimately what I love about it. You’re trying to get better every single day. Not only get better, but be the best version of what I can be. Any time you work toward something and push to that, you get lost in it and have a lot of fun.” Copyright 2026 WXIX. All rights reserved.