At 41 years of age, Joe Flacco will finally see his first NFL Pro Bowl after 18 years of play. At first glance, it may seem like a nice tip of the cap towards a meaningful veteran who many believe is on his way out the door, but according to the man himself, this is just the latest milestone in a journey that is set to continue.
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His last-minute addition to the Pro Bowl roster may have caught the veteran QB by surprise, but given the amount of doubts that he has faced throughout the past several seasons from both fans and analysts alike, he was quick to admit that it felt good to prove the doubters wrong.
“I’m not going to say I have unfinished business,” Flacco prefaced during his interview with WNST’s Nestor Aparicio. “But I still feel like I have a lot of fun ahead of me on the football field.”
“Everybody in the league has a little chip on their shoulder,” he noted. “And I’m no different.”
Flacco has entered the chat.
🔗: https://t.co/EI0FmnqS01 pic.twitter.com/ilvznZXa1D
— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 30, 2026
While he wouldn’t have “drawn it up this way,” the recognition still feels just as nice. Although, Flacco did suggest that he “could have done more for the last five or six years” prior to landing in Cleveland.
Funnily enough, this also means that the Cleveland Browns produced not one, but two Pro Bowl quarterbacks in the same season, as their rookie sensation, Shedeur Sanders, was also added to this year’s Pro Bowl as a roster replacement for Drake Maye. Considering that this is the first time a team has ever managed to do this, as well as the fact that the Browns still only won five games this season, it’s a pretty good testament to the dysfunction of both Cleveland and the Pro Bowl.
Regardless of how you may feel about the current product, there’s no denying that the Pro Bowl has become a shell of its former self. The days of engaging presentations and Sean Taylor laying the wood on Brian Moorman are long gone, and all that remains is a never-ending series of roster replacements and celebrity appearances that nobody asked for.
There’s no denying that Flacco is more than deserving of having his time and effort acknowledged, but the idea that fans will show up to watch a 41-year-old backup take on a series of secondary NFC defenders is simply laughable.
What used to be one of the more prestigious honors in professional football has been transformed into something that neither the players nor the public can stomach, so until the NFL is able to incentivize actual competition, you can continue to expect more of the same from this dwindling product.
