Here’s how the signing of the Jets about Joe Flacco being a backup of Sam Darnold would work well: If Flacco made it work.
On paper, the acquisition looks like a perfect move as insurance for 22-year-old Darnold, which is something the team has not had for the past two seasons, with 0-6 with Darnold out of line. Flacco is also cheap – a one-year deal worth $ 1.5 million does not include incentives.
Flacco has made 171 NFL regular seasons begin, having a 98-73 win-lose record with 218 goals thrown in 141 interception. Even more important than that is the 15 playoffs starting with a 10-5 record, 25 touchdowns to 10 picks and the Super Bowl title.
So, the Jets will enter the 2020 season with the most experienced, experienced and accomplished reserve quarterback in the league.
The question is whether Flacco’s achievements, coupled with his desire to become a starter again, will be an asset or detrimental to Darnold?
Flacco, a former quarterback of Ravens and Broncos, spoke with reporters on Thursday on a Zoom call and said all the right things about wanting to help Darnold and do what he could to make the team better.
Joe FlaccoThe AP
But 35-year-old Flacco, too, isn’t ashamed to admit that he still has a burning desire to start again. Aside from the end of his 11-year run in Baltimore, where Lamar Jackson began to take over the league in 2018, the start was all that Flacco knew in his career.
Did you hear the words “quarterback controversy” in the air?
Considering the Jets investment in Darnold, the third overall choice in the 2018 design, and considering that Flacco was 2-6 last season in Denver and out of neck surgery, the idea must not make sense.
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And, if Darnold happened to find himself frightened by Flacco’s presence or looking over his shoulder at the first time he threw three interceptions in a game, then he might not be the midfielder that the Jets believed in the first place.
This is what the Jets and Darnold need for Flacco this season: Be like Josh McCown.
There was no bone in McCown’s body who considered himself a starter for Darnold, even in Darnold’s rookie season, and his desire to become a Darnold mentor was genuine. McCown is one of the selfless players you have ever met.
This is not a knock on Flacco, because he has never even met with Darnold or his new Jets teammate, and he may be the right mentor the Jets want for him for their valuable (hopeful) franchise quarterback.
But this is all up to Flacco.
“I fully embrace it,” Flacco said Thursday about his backup role. “This is where I am now. I love being in a team playing soccer in a certain capacity. It would be wonderful to get in there and get to know them and develop relationships with the team and do whatever I can to help the team get better.
“And in the process, help Sam with whatever he needs help – take his mind off something, tell him how I see things or how I’ve dealt with [something] in the past – on the soccer field or outside the soccer field. ‘
Asked if he still saw himself as a starter, Flacco said, “I still believe that I was an early quarterback, and you never know what the next three years will be like. I still have confidence and I still have the desire to do that. I don’t think there’s a reserve in this league that doesn’t have the aspiration to become an early quarterback.
“Right now … I know what my role is. Things were different last year. I am hurt and unwell. I know what it’s like not to be part of a team, because you really can’t get involved. In the role that I’m currently playing, I can have a good positive effect on the team. My role is to help the team get better and help the young quarterback see things as clearly as possible and help him on his way to becoming an old NFL quarterback. “
Of course, Flacco is his own person and it is important for him to be himself. But it won’t hurt him to at least be a little like Josh McCown. Because that’s the best for Darnold.
