Bengals Trading For Joe Flacco

Adam Schefter reports the Bengals are trading a fifth-round pick for Flacco and a sixth-round pick from Cleveland. The sixth originally belong to Detroit. 

It’s a major plot twist for the AFC North. Cincinnati’s offense has struggled mightily since losing QB Joe Burrow for the season and inserting backup QB Jake Browning. 

Meanwhile, Flacco lost his starting job to third-round QB Dillon Gabriel far sooner than expected. 

Now the Bengals get another option to try and save their season, while Flacco gets another shot at a starting job. 

Quarterback trades are rare and intra-division trades are even rarer, so this is a unique turn of events to say the least. 

Flacco, 40, is a former first-round pick of the Ravens back in 2008. After over a decade in Baltimore, the Broncos agreed to trade a 2019 fourth-round pick to the Ravens for Flacco.

Flacco was in the fourth year of a six-year, $125 million contract that contained $44 million guaranteed and set to make a base salary of $20.25 million for 2020 when Denver released him with a failed physical designation.

He signed a one-year contract worth $1.5 million and up to $4.5 million with the Jets in 2020 before joining the Eagles in 2021. Philadelphia traded him back to the Jets ahead of the deadline for a conditional sixth-round pick. 

Flacco later re-signed with the Jets on a one-year, $3.5 million deal in 2022. He signed on with the Browns during the season in 2023 and parlayed a strong performance into a deal with the Colts in 2024. 

He re-signed with Cleveland on a one-year deal this offseason.

In 2025, Flacco has appeared in four games for the Browns and completed 58.1 percent of his pass attempts for 815 yards, two touchdowns and six interceptions.