Joe Flacco is 38 years old and well past the prime of his career, but he’s still playing well enough to keep the Cleveland Browns winning games and in playoff contention. And it sounds like as long as he’s able to do that, he’ll continue to play in the NFL.
During a phone interview with Pro Football Talk following the Cleveland Browns’ win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, Joe Flacco made it clear that he’s continued to play in the NFL primarily out of love for the game and that he’s going to continue doing that “as long as I can.”
“I love the game,” Flacco said. “That’s the first reason. And the second reason is I have a lot of people around me that allow me to believe in myself. I still feel like I can play the game, so that’s the main thing is, you know, I feel like I owe it to myself. I put in all this work. I’m 38 years old. I got the rest of my life ahead of me, hopefully, and you know, I’m going to play football as long as I can. It’s a special thing. And like I said, I think the biggest thing with that is that I have people around me that also believe me and that want me to do it. They also believe I can do it, should do it. I think I’m obviously very fortunate because of that.”
Flacco will remain the Browns’ starting quarterback for the remainder of the season as he hopes to lead them on a run through the playoffs. After that, his future is far more uncertain, but it sounds like he still wants to play.