{"id":43075,"date":"2026-02-08T00:24:47","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T00:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43075"},"modified":"2026-02-08T00:24:47","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T00:24:47","slug":"cincinnati-bengals-could-have-afc-north-competition-to-sign-joe-flacco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43075","title":{"rendered":"Cincinnati Bengals Could Have AFC North Competition To Sign Joe Flacco"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure data-player-type=\"mini\"><\/figure>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_0,w_7057,h_3969\/c_fill,w_2160,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images%2FImagnImages%2Fmmsport%2Fall_bengals%2F01kgwz18sqna0ppp8pfq.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\"><strong>CINCINNATI \u2014\u00a0<\/strong>The Bengals may have competition for\u00a0Joe\u00a0Flacco&#8217;s\u00a0services this offseason from within the AFC North. They traded for him during the 2025 season from Cleveland, and\u00a0ESPN&#8217;s\u00a0Jeremy Fowler noted Pittsburgh liked his profile last offseason before he signed with the Browns.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\">Cincinnati wants to bring Flacco back at 41 years old\u00a0after\u00a0he bridged Joe\u00a0Burrow&#8217;s\u00a0time\u00a0starting\u00a0this\u00a0past season. Aaron Rodgers&#8217; decision for next season could play a role as well.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\">&#8220;The Bengals have expressed interest in re-signing quarterback\u00a0Joe Flacco,&#8221;\u00a0Fowler wrote on Saturday.\u00a0&#8220;They believe\u00a0he&#8217;s a valuable backup who can be a viable starting option if\u00a0Joe Burrow\u00a0gets injured again. But Flacco will have options, possibly as a bridge quarterback elsewhere. The Vikings considered signing Flacco last offseason. And the Steelers will have an opening if\u00a0Aaron Rodgers\u00a0doesn&#8217;t\u00a0re-sign there. Pittsburgh liked his free agency profile last offseason, too.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\">&#8220;Speaking of Rodgers, he has emerged from the 2025 season refreshed. One source I spoke to said Rodgers is in a much better place coming out of his year with the Steelers compared with his previous two years with the Jets. He greatly valued his experience in Pittsburgh, and teammates raved about him, both publicly and in exit meetings with the team. The Steelers have been open to a Rodgers return since early in the season, and I\u00a0don&#8217;t\u00a0sense that has changed. The\u00a0Steelers&#8217;\u00a0combination of head coach Mike McCarthy and offensive coordinator Brian Angelichio makes the transition seamless.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\">The quarterback situation in the AFC North may niot change much if Rodgers stays at his post in the Steel City.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\">Cincinnati is hoping to keep Burrow healthy this coming season after Flacco threw for 1,664 yards, 13 TDs, and four INTs in his nine appearances.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\">\u201cI\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0really think about those things,\u201d\u00a0Flacco said about retiring in January.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m\u00a0just being myself. I love being in the locker room. I love being part of the group; guys like this\u00a0in general. And\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0had a lot of fun here the last couple of months.\u00a0\u2026\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0trying to be the best I can at what I do. And however things shake out from here, they do. But\u00a0I\u2019ve\u00a0had a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\">Cincinnati has plenty of free agency decisions to make next month. Kirk Cousins is another veteran who figures to have options in a quarterback-needy market this offseason.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-22\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cincinnati leaned on Flacco to start six games last season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cincinnati-bengals"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Cincinnati Bengals Could Have AFC North Competition To Sign Joe Flacco - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=43075\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cincinnati Bengals Could Have AFC North Competition To Sign Joe Flacco - 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