Report may have revealed one team Bengals' Joe Flacco called 'dumb' during offseason

Shortly after the New York Giants lost starting quarterback Jaxson Dart to a serious knee injury in Week 2 of this season, some linked the Giants with Cincinnati Bengals veteran backup Joe Flacco. 

Flacco later insisted he did not believe he would be traded, and the Giants agreed this past Monday to send the Minnesota Vikings a 2027 fifth-round draft pick for third-year pro J.J. McCarthy. 

Shortly after Flacco decided to return to the Bengals early in the offseason, he acknowledged that he felt it was "dumb" that he didn't receive an opportunity to compete for a starting job elsewhere. It sounds like the Giants were one of those "dumb" clubs. 

Joe Flacco wanted to join the Giants in March 2026? 

"Per a league source, Flacco had interest in the Giants," NFL insider Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk revealed on Tuesday night. "The Giants did not have interest in Flacco. At the time, the Giants had Jameis Winston under contract through 2026. He has since signed a two-year extension."

Flacco tossed 13 touchdown passes and only four interceptions across six starts for the Bengals last season when Joe Burrow was sidelined with a toe injury. While Cincinnati only notched a single win over Flacco's starts, his performances in those outings seemingly showed he had plenty left in the tank. 

That said, the Giants were always going to go with Dart as their 2026 Week 1 starter. Flacco presumably was fine with that, but Big Blue ultimately went in a different direction. 

Meanwhile, Winston has thus far left much to be desired with his play following Dart's injury. Some now think that it's a matter of when, not if, first-year Giants head coach John Harbaugh will turn to McCarthy. 

Would Bengals have traded Joe Flacco to Giants? 

"The Bengals surely wouldn’t have been willing to part with Flacco in the days since Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart suffered a knee injury; they need to have Flacco around, in the event starter Joe Burrow suffers another injury," Florio added. "Still, the Giants could have had Flacco in March. While they’d never admit it, they could be privately kicking themselves that they didn’t reciprocate his offseason interest."

Winston will start for the 2-1 Giants when they host the 1-2 Arizona Cardinals this coming Sunday. If he produces a dud that afternoon, Harbaugh may find himself wishing that he had embraced a reunion with Flacco. 

Flacco played under Harbaugh when the two were with the Baltimore Ravens, and they guided that franchise to a Super Bowl victory in February 2013.