Veteran Joe Flacco raised eyebrows when he recently suggested he's more concerned with trying to win the Cleveland Browns' starting quarterback job than with mentoring 2022 first-round draft pick Kenny Pickett, 2025 third-round choice Dillon Gabriel and 2025 fifth-rounder Shedeur Sanders.
Former NFL defensive lineman and Super Bowl champion Chris Canty shared a locker room with Flacco when the two played for the Baltimore Ravens. During Friday's edition of the ESPN "Unsportsmanlike" program, Canty ripped Flacco over the 40-year-old's comments.
"Mentoring a young player is only going to make that player better, which makes the team better," Canty said, per Brad Crawford of CBS Sports. "You're only as strong as your weakest link. The whole point of the exercise is that everybody makes everyone better. That's why you practice. You're making each other better. It's what you're supposed to do. You do that with the reps on the practice field, but you also do that by sharing points and notes in the film room."
Flacco's take on believing that the best way for him to serve as a mentor "is show people how you go to work" was hardly surprising. He made similar comments shortly before Cleveland added Gabriel and Sanders to what's become a crowded quarterback room.
FanDuel Sportsbook has consistently listed Flacco as the betting favorite at +116 odds to be Cleveland's Week 1 starter in September. As of Friday afternoon, Pickett was second on the list at +200 odds.
"It's stupid to not consider trying to do everything that you can to coach these other guys up," Canty continued. "Nobody is saying you have to do your job at a lesser level in terms of performing on the field, but if you can happen to impart some wisdom onto those guys who you're spending 16 hours a day with in training camp, why wouldn't you do that?"
Canty added that the words spoken by Flacco following a midweek practice session were some "of the dumbest things I've heard Joe Flacco ever say." Flacco has made it clear he wants to continue playing while in the twilight of his career, so it's possible the one-time Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award winner could ask to be traded or released if head coach Kevin Stefanski chooses to start Pickett, Gabriel or Sanders for the regular-season opener.
