A lot has changed for Jets quarterback Joe Flacco over the last year.
Flacco spent 2019 with the Broncos, his first time playing for an organization other than the Baltimore Ravens. He began the season as Denver’s starting quarterback, but gave way to Drew Lock, the Broncos’ quarterback of the future, after a neck injury landed Flacco on season-ending injured reserve in November.
After serving in the role for most of his 12-year career, Flacco’s days as a full-time starting quarterback are behind him. Like many veteran quarterbacks at this stage in their careers, Flacco is now the backup tasked with guiding a young quarterback on his road to stardom.
“I want to, first and foremost, help the team in any way possible, but also be a guy that Sam [Darnold] can lean on and can learn from,” Flacco said on SiriusXM NFL Radio. “I would say those are the two most important things; to help out the guys on the team and to help out Sam to do all he can.”
This was not Flacco’s mindset a year ago. Still armed with a starter’s mentality, Flacco did not feel it was his responsibility to help Lock grow in his rookie year. All he was focused on was holding onto his starting job and helping the Broncos win games.
“Listen, I have so many things to worry about. I’m trying to go out there and play the best football of my life,” Flacco said last May. “As far as a time constraint and all of that stuff, I’m not worried about developing guys or any of that. That is what it is. I hope [Lock] does it well. I don’t look at that as my job. My job is to go win football games for this football team.”
It’s hard to blame Flacco for thinking this way at the time. He went to the Broncos knowing it would probably be his last chance to prove he can cut it as a starting quarterback in the NFL. When a player is focused on preserving his own career, the future of another’s is not much of a consideration.
Now that his role has changed, Flacco has altered his tune on mentorship. At this point in his career, Flacco’s job is about more than being a reliable backup that can pilot an offense without much of a drop off in production in the event of an injury. It’s about helping a young quarterback reach the same heights he did in his time with the Ravens.
Flacco seems to be well aware of this, which is good news for the Jets. As long as he can be someone Darnold can lean on and learn from throughout the season, Flacco will go down as New York’s most impactful backup quarterback since Josh McCown took Darnold under his wing when he was a rookie.