Joe Burrow is used to being the guy with the most mileage in the Bengals quarterback room. That changes now.
With Joe Flacco in the building, Burrow finally has a veteran alongside him who can do more than just hold a clipboard. The latest episode of Netflix’s “Quarterback” offered a quick but revealing look at why that matters, showing the two Bengals quarterbacks side by side at practice, talking through grip, hand placement, footwork and the way they set up their throws.
Burrow wasn’t just listening. He was actively working through what Flacco does differently.
“I’m trying out my front side like you throw it,” Burrow says.
“I feel like you kind of open up to it a little more,” Burrow replies.
“It’s like you’re a little more deliberate with where you put it,” Burrow says. “I was always just trying to get my foot in the ground fast.
But I feel like once you decide where you’re throwing it, you don’t rush it. And you get (the foot) down where you want it, and you’re more deliberate with it.
“It feels like my sequencing is a little better like that,” he adds.
Flacco then explains why his own mechanics look the way they do, saying, “I’d rather be a little bit slow to put my back foot in the ground,” before showing Burrow both a slower approach and his current one.
It was a short exchange, just 80 seconds, but it said plenty. Burrow is getting a chance to learn from a quarterback who has been through just about everything, and who can offer more than insurance if things go sideways.
That kind of value doesn’t stop at the practice field, either. The same dynamic can carry over to the sideline, where Flacco can help Burrow sort through pre- and post-snap looks, or point out something he sees from a different angle while the game is moving around them.
For Burrow, that’s new territory. Outside of the first few games of his career, he has always been the most experienced quarterback in the room.
The Bengals’ recent history makes that clear. In 2020, the backups were Ryan Finley and Brandon Allen, both of whom had only three career starts entering 2019. After Burrow tore his ACL in Week 11 at Washington, Finley came off the bench and Allen was signed off the practice squad to start the next week.
The following offseason, Cincinnati moved on from Finley and entered 2021 with Burrow and Allen, while also adding Browning to the practice squad in September. Allen and Browning were the backups again in 2022 and 2023, and the Bengals brought in AJ McCarron before the Week 3 game against the Rams in 2023 when Burrow’s calf injury flared up after Week 2. At that point, McCarron had 17 career games and four starts, while Burrow had 44 starts.
Browning then made his NFL debut in 2024 after Burrow’s wrist injury and started seven games, before adding three more starts last year. The Bengals later traded for Flacco.
And while a seasoned backup is not some magic formula for winning - the last five Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks didn’t all have that setup behind them - it is a real advantage when the veteran in the room can actually help the starter think and play at a higher level.
Flacco said as much after signing his one-year, $6 million deal to return to Cincinnati in March, and he repeated it on the final episode of the season. Being around Burrow was part of what made him comfortable taking a backup role instead of chasing a starting job elsewhere.
Burrow has noticed that too.
“It’s exciting,” he said. “I love being around Joe and watching him play. To have somebody behind me who can step in and play the way he did last year will put our team in a good position.”
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