Getty ImagesRavens quarterback Joe Flacco turned 30 in January, but he thinks he has more than a decade of football left in him.
“I don’t feel any worse because of my age yet,” Flacco told ESPN. “I’m not going to be 50 [years old] and playing. I hope I’m 40, but 50, no.”
Few players make it to age 40, but Flacco may have a shot. Flacco has remained remarkably healthy, starting all 16 games in all seven of his NFL seasons. He has the sixth-longest streak of any quarterback in NFL history with 112 consecutive starts (127 counting the postseason), and will move into the Top 5 of all-time if he starts the first four games of this season. And he says he’s keeping himself healthy in the offseason.
“I’m comfortable with what I do in the offseason and who I work with when I’m not around here,” Flacco said. “And it wasn’t like that probably the first two years. But ever since then, I’m pretty comfortable and I feel good about it. It’s kind of been pretty similar, and I rely on my trainer, and when I come back here I rely on these guys. I think it’s working out really well.”
Flacco hopes it works out well enough that he’s still playing in 2025, when he’s 40.
Funny…most others think he hasn’t been able to play…ever
he cant even play now what makes him think he can last till 40.
Who knows. I would’ve called it overly optimistic that he’d still be playing right now, but he is.
As a Ravens fan, I hope Joe is still playing for the Ravens, at a high level, when he is 40.
…with Rodger Goodell in charge….I hope I’m still watching the NFL when I turn 40.
Stay healthy, Joe. Would love to see you play for another decade.
He will retire as a Browns backup QB.
As long as he keeps on throwing up those jump balls he can play until he’s 50.
With an eyebrow like that, anything is possible.
Everyone hates on this guy because of the large contract he was given.
Sure he was overpaid, but the guy wins. Especially come playoff time.
Joe rocks. He is down to earth. Is honest in his remarks to the media. He is himself. He’s not what anyone else wants or expects him to be. Keep on rocking Joe. I am a fan!
Chuck n’ pray Flacco. Worst qb in the arc.
In ten years he’ll be getting $39MM/year based on the current inflation of average QB contracts.
Haha, a KC chiefs fan says he never thought Joe Flacco could play. His QB didn’t throw a single TD all season to a WR. Joe Flacco threw 5 TD’s to WRs in the first half of the Bucaneers game.
I don’t get the hate on Flacco. He doesn’t cheat, he doesn’t get into trouble in Georgia bar bathrooms or Lake Tahoe casinos, he’s never been to rehab, never stolen anything… you get the point. Could it be that fans are envious of his and the Ravens’ success?
C-mon Joe!!! You are starting to sound like another “crazyjoe”, we all know.
He’s a SB winner, makes the playoffs every year… but he is screwing my fantasy team everytime I need a backup!
If you’re making fun of Joe being overrated, my guess is, he beat your team in the playoffs.
So when’s he gonna start?
For those of us over 40, I think he should wait until he’s at least 35 before making such proclamations. You’ll be feeling it soon Joe. 🙂
He relies a lot on crazy arm strength and that’s usually one of the first things to go with age. Not sure he’ll last until 40 unless it’s as a back up
If he plays till he is 40 he will have 4 Superbowl titles. But he still won’t get the credit he is due, just like now.
Aside from Rodgers, Wilson, Brady, there aren’t many other QBs that can touch Flacco’s wins, durability, and post-season success.
If they ever figure out how to put some offensive playmakers around him – look out! Flacco will get another ring before he rides off into the sunset.
It isn’t unreasonable to think that he could still be playing in ten years. He has enough arm strength that as father time steps in and takes some heat off of the deep ball he should have enough football smarts to work more intermediary routes. Add that to the fact that he’s got Ozzie Newsome in the front office picking up groceries to line up with whatever his current skill set is, he could remain effective even as his arm strength diminishes back to average.
I still won’t refer to him as an “elite” quarterback, but he can be an NFL quality starter for many more years to come.
WE DO TOO JOE!!!!
Signed,
AFC NORTH
Well if he plays another ten years he should be able to finally hit his receivers in stride!!!!!!!!!! You think!!!!
Really?? Flacco’s only started 5 postseason games?? I didn’t know that!!
Joe Flacco looks like Mike Heck from The Middle
This guy stinks
easy to say when you’re 29
At best he is a top 16 QB in his prime; would love the team I root for to play him when h’s 40.
2011 he ranked 14th in QBR
2012 he ranked 22nd in QBR
2013 he ranked 20th in QBR
2014 he ranked 8th in QBR… in 2014 he also played the bottom 10 pass defenses a total of 10 times.
Easily a top 10 QB. I doubt he’s a starter at 40 but he will be in the league.
nudderfacelessgenius says:
Jun 8, 2015 1:14 PM
He will retire as a Browns backup QB
———————————————————————-He’ll retire before spending a minute with them.
That dude has game. I’ll bet he can play beyond 40. He’s one of the very few QB’s in this league that makes me nervous. He’s a no-bones no-fear player.
I don’t care that he came out of Delaware. He’s elite. No question.
-Patriot Fan
Bust if you will,but facts dont lie, which BTW-the majority of NFL-QB’s can not even make the statement”Playoffs-are you kidding me? Playoffs”.
NFL records
Most wins by a quarterback in first six seasons: 62
2nd most combined regular and postseason wins in first three years as a quarterback: 36
Only quarterback to start and win a playoff game in each of his first five seasons
Most touchdowns in a postseason: 11
Most touchdowns without an interception in a postseason: 11
First quarterback to have a passer rating over 100 in all four games of a single postseason
Most road playoff wins for a quarterback: 7[55]
Why does Flacco get trashed for “jumpballs” yet no one bats an eye about Brady never throwing deeper than 5 yards?
On behalf of the rest of the NFL, PLEASE play til you’re 40 Joe! Please!
Flacco
Regular Season
72-40 (.643)
60.5 comp %
84.8 Rating
148 TDs/90 INT (1.64/1)
Playoffs
10-5 (.666)
56.6 comp%
88.6 Rating
25 TDs/ 10 INT (2.5/1)
Definitely more efficient in the postseason. Not overrated, but not elite. Definitely above average. If he makes it 40 and wins 1 or 2 more rings he could make the hall.
I love it. He didn’t say he thinks he can play when he’s 40, he said he hopes he can play when he’s 40.
But hey, don’t let that get in the way of the Troll Stampede!
He hopes he can play ’til he’s 40 so he can sucker the Ravens out of another $120 million….
no, joe, you won’t be getting a paycheck until you’re 40. i realize that’s your goal, but no.
Ravens would not be able to pay him till hes 40 & still don’t have a QB right now!!!
Flacco is a genius. he parlayed the only four games of being consistently good into a Super Bowl run and then a $20m/year contract.
Now we’re hearing contract extension. Now we’re hearing the idea of playing until he’s 40.
As a Steelers fan, I sure hope he does. Nothing I lime more than seeing the mannequin back there, standing in his pocket.
The trouble is Joe your fingers will start to get a little numb at that ripe old age and thanks to Terrible Tommy you will not be able to Deflate anymore.
I hope he plays until he’s 40 too.
Patriots fan here…
He already plays like he’s 40, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
Iron Man of QBs. I think it is a very real possibility that Joe beats Favre’s starting streak.
I hate the Ravens, but you can’t argue with 24 TDs to just 4 ints in his last 10 playoff games. Dude balls in January.
Love the Hate for a stand-up Superbowl MVP. All the loudmouths bashing him need to come back when the playoffs start and you find out he’s coming to your town to win on the road AGAIN!
Class act, brought up right in great organization, great family guy and should be the face of the NFL. Can’t wait cause he’s gonna have a great year in this mini contract year of him to sign ANOTHER extension for even more money!
Nobody likes goliath!
Hey Joe! Who says playing at 50 is out of the question? Why not give it a try and become a real pioneer! Seriously bud, give it some thought!
Sincerely,
The rest of the NFL
The 2 biggest components of the raven passing game are jump balls and pass interference calls.
As long as they keep drafting big WRs who can catch jump balls, Joe can keep blindly throwing them up there.
Wow..breaking news.
Of course the normal posters that are so envious of the Ravens come out on every post about the team. It’s good to be one of the top 5 NFL teams and have everyone take shots at you.
As long as the Ravens standards don’t get higher than 8 for 21 in the first half of a game against the lowly Texans, he’s good.
With all the rules in place to protect QBs, why not? Steve Young and Troy Aikman would have played to 40 if they played today.
I’m pulling for the AFC’s version of Eli Manning. Quiet, unremarkable, iron man, trophy winner. That’s what all NFL fans hope their QBs can become.
While some cursed, burned out QBs are still looking for a ref to hand them a SB win, Flacco is consistently keeping the Ravens at the top. It makes sense that Flacco, Brees, Rodgers, Eli Manning, and Russell Wilson are the only QBs to honestly take home a trophy in recent history.
Hahaha
I just heard a collective groan from every Ravens fan. Then they went right back to their rioting & looting.
ampatsisahypocrite says:
Jun 8, 2015 1:53 PM
On behalf of the rest of the NFL, PLEASE play til you’re 40 Joe! Please!
———————
Good lord. If Joe plays another decade, you’re going to need to double the dosage of your blood pressure meds.
Predicting if you’re gonna be playing in ten years is about as reliable as doing the weather forecast for April 15th 2016.
Get paid Joe, get paid.
I’d rather have him than Eli
Being objective Joe is an excellent NFL QB, just a notch below elite IMO.
He never gets hurt, he’s big, strong and tough and you never hear of any drama surrounding him, solid guy and I’m sure his teammates respect him greatly, I can see him playing another 10 years if he so chooses.
-Pats fan.
At the price he gets paid, I’d say the same thing. Prices are only going to go up too. Hope you guys didn’t just jinx his health
The Tebow troll left Big Ben out of his honestly list…..oh the horror. Common dude you can do better.
I hope Jump Ball Joe is playing till he is forty, but he should overcome his first serious injury before saying that. To deny he will be injured is pretty dumb even in Raven fan terms.
“Funny…most others think he hasn’t been able to play…ever”
Yeah like when he won the Super Bowl.
Bengals fans would love a guy like this. The Anti Andy Dalton. Wins when it counts. Very good player.
tunechi90 says:
Everyone hates on this guy because of the large contract he was given.
Sure he was overpaid, but the guy wins. Especially come playoff time.
_______________
All he does is win, not a lot of style points, not huge numbers and Baltimore, though not at all cosmopolitan, is a great sports town. He deserved the contract not because he is a top 5 QB but because replacing him could be a disaster.
In fantasy land, Flacco sucks. In real football, where the only stat that matters is wins in the playoffs, Flacco is on pace to be among the best of all time.
This guy has done nothing except get lucky in the playoffs a few times. Look at regular season stats…that’s where the sample size is and is what really matters.
-colts fans everywhere 😉
He will retire as a Browns backup QB.
__________________________
That’s just mean
I remember Unitas and Namath playing at 40. Made you want to cry.
MostcensoredposteronPFT says:
Jun 8, 2015 1:49 PM
“Why does Flacco get trashed for “jumpballs” yet no one bats an eye about Brady never throwing deeper than 5 yards?”
Because fans lack objectivity. There’s not much else they can latch onto when it comes to Flacco. I’m not a fan, but he’s been a great pick for the Ravens. The results don’t lie.
As average as Jump Ball plays he can probably play till he is 60.
No reason he couldn’t. He’s stayed healthy and hasn’t taken a ton of hits.
This is a waste of space. Flacco at 40 is so far off it’s not even worth mentioning.
But — with all the evidence that football is not good for one’s health, why would anyone want to play until they’re 40?
Oh, I forgot. The QB’s today are pampered and you’re not allowed to so much as breathe on them for fear of a penalty. So it makes sense that Flacco could play until he’s 40.
Steeler trolls even exceed the level of stupidity that we have come to associate with Viking trolls. Flacco has never had great or even good receivers. Half of his career was behind a makeshift O line. And yet, somehow, someway he succeeds. You would think that fans would love him. Matt Ryan piles up stats, mostly during garbage time, in a crappy division with some of the best receivers in the league and still consistently fails in post season play, and he is “elite”. Go figure.
steeler fans are “hoping” Joe plays till he’s 40, throwing “jump balls”. They must not realize that their team is 3-6 against Joe, since ’11. Haven’t won a playoff game, since then. And have to watch Joe win 6, including a SB MVP. WOW, talk about denial.
Nice way to jinx yourself.
This is ridiculous. All Joe does is win. He is one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of post season football. He has won more games than any other quarterback in the last seven years except Brady. Since entering the league in 2008 Joe has more victories under his Belton big Ben breeze Manning you name it. I don’t understand why people get on him. He has never had a true number one receiver like Matt Ryan or Daltonyet he continues to thrive with those put around him. I know he’s not elite but all he does is win. Last time I checked that shows what a great quarterback is. Why don’t you check the Hall of Fame stats for Troy Aikman. He never threw more than 20 touchdowns and he had Novachek and Irving and Emmett Smith.
He may be right, but I’ll be more impressed if Baltimore is still standing 10 years from now.
i can probably throw jump balls at 40 to.
Totally agree with aingoglia75! To extrapolate on what has been said Flacco has had four OC in four years yet he won a Super Bowl with Joe Montana stats-11 td’s in 4 games with no picks, 1140 yards and a passer rating of 117,2. Look if you want fantasy numbers go somewhere else to find a qb do not select Flacco. Baltimore fans will settle for playoff wins.
Funny, Joe is like a lot of Raven trolls he inserts his foot in his mouth by not thinking of what he is saying.
@ dcapettini I suggest if you want evidence of a troll at work follow your boy The Tebow dude. Pot me kettle dude.
Rip on him all you like haters, we in Baltimore know what a great QB and more importantly quality human Joe is. We love Joe.
No one likes Flacco because he has allowed his head to remain here on earth whereas many NFL players have truly set a drift into the stratosphere.
Joe is a heck of a player, says and does the right things, is the perfect face of the franchise. Only Ravens fans will truly love him. Howvere to not respect him is to not be a football fan at all.
I hated when he connected on that deep bomb against my Broncos, but he can play and you can’t hate that.
40 is the new 35 for today’s QBs who rarely get hit because of the rules. This isn’t newsworthy at all.
Super Bowl MVP
I miss the good ole days where Defensive Linemen would obliterate QB’s on the sack. This clown would have retired today.
I wish I was as witty as a Steeler fan. But then that requires a full frontal lobotamy and the ability to drink a 30 pack of Iron City on a daily basis (without puking after the first one.) Oh well….
MostcensoredposteronPFT says:
Jun 8, 2015 1:49 PM
“Why does Flacco get trashed for “jumpballs” yet no one bats an eye about Brady never throwing deeper than 5 yards?”
——————————
Brady gets the “short pass” trashing the same way. The answer is, it doesn’t matter if it’s true or not in either case. The game planning is designed to win, not collect style points.
When you win a ton of games and go all the way in the postseason, who cares what the critics think of what style of passing got you there. Getting called “Jumpball Joe” by people who’s team got beat is a compliment.
I was always a Flacco doubter but the guy has really proven himself to me, he’s a tough customer and a top level QB. I can see him playing at least as long as Tom Cheater or Peyton Megahead for sure.
joe flacco has a flac jacket for all your haternades
He’s underrated
#Billsmafia
Top 4 QB’s in AFC are Brady, Manning, Flacco, Roethlisberger in no particular order. Luck and Rivers are contenders. The top 4 are all SB winners.
randomcommenter says:
Jun 8, 2015 2:34 PM
The 2 biggest components of the raven passing game are jump balls and pass interference calls.
As long as they keep drafting big WRs who can catch jump balls, Joe can keep blindly throwing them up there.
—
Thanks for your brilliance. Clearly did your homework.
What big WR’s have the Ravens drafted to throw jump balls to? Name one. I’ll wait.
And what’s with the jump ball thing? He doesn’t throw jump balls at all. He throws deep balls, yea. And he gets a lot of PI calls, sure. But that’s because CBs were deathly afraid of the combo of Joe’s arm and Torrey’s speed to the point where most times they went deep CBs had to resort to just grabbing Torrey out of fear of giving up the TD.
Clearly if you can see it, then defenses know what the Ravens try to do. The fact that they get so many PI calls is a testament to how good Joe is. Your teams D knows it’s coming but can’t stop it. Go cry about it. Worst knock on Joe I’ve ever heard.
Hate all you want. We’ll be contending for another trophy this year while your team(s) sit at home on the couch.
Unless he can’t
Not even a big Flacco fan but.. The reason Joe Flacco throws deep passes/ mot Jump balls is because unlike a lot of NFL qbs he has the arm strength to throw the ball down the field far accurately and with timing. Best believe unless your offensive coordinator sucks. If your qb can do those things he will throw deep passes/jump balls. Anyone that uses jump ball Joe is a moron. An example of a jump ball e is a Hail Mary. What Flacco did to the poor Broncos is called an amazing pass. you will never see Manning do something as perfect as that throw 70 yards downfield. Accurate mostly, gave his receiver way more then a chance gave him 60 yards of pure perfection and hit Jones slowing for a third sec in stride on the money. It was clutch, against the odds, and after doing the reason for his nickname. Anyway topic at hand why not if Manning and Bree’s can get their. He has not missed a game in his career and throws the ball much harder then both especially Manning, and he is no manning with tape but def not a Colin K or one of the many Qbs in this starving of talented qbs, or effective qbs in the modern NFL
Why did the Steelers draft a 5’8″ corner if all Joe throws are jump balls? The whole jump ball thing has been debunked and is old and tired. Let’s not let football get in the way of good trolling.
……..okay
It’s so refreshing to have such a decent, hard working guy as your QB. No sneaking around deflating balls. No drunken bathroom encounters while crooked cops stand guard. Just good, solid football.
You tell em Tebowed.
Sweet Pea
Just to clarify the whole “Jump Ball Joe” thing…
He picked up that nickname while Anquan Boldin was still his primary target. Flacco tossed up a lot of 50/50 balls because Boldin was so physical about jumping up and ripping down a pass that it was a viable strategy.
steelerben says:
Jun 9, 2015 10:20 AM
Just to clarify the whole “Jump Ball Joe” thing…
He picked up that nickname while Anquan Boldin was still his primary target. Flacco tossed up a lot of 50/50 balls because Boldin was so physical about jumping up and ripping down a pass that it was a viable strategy.
—-
Except they wouldn’t have been contested EVERY time if Boldin was faster. I loved the guy, didn’t think they should have gotten rid of him, but he was not fast which is why defenders were always all over him. This was another example of Flacco working with what he had and getting criticized for not putting up numbers. Name his best-ever receiver. Derrick Mason? Boldin? Steve Smith? Dennis Pitta? The supporting cast deserves some of the blame for mediocre numbers just as they deserve some of the credit for his historically-great SB MVP run.
@ aingoglia75 – Joe does have more wins than ANY QB, including Brady, since ’08. Brady didn’t play that year.