Joe Flacco isn’t one to sugarcoat things - and during a recent appearance on Kevin Clark’s This is Football podcast, the veteran quarterback peeled back the curtain on how much the NFL has changed over the course of his 18-year career. From how quarterbacks are developed to how the game is officiated, Flacco didn’t hold back.
“I don’t think anybody coming into the league these days is quite as battle-tested as guys that came into the league 15 years ago,” Flacco said. And coming from a guy who entered the NFL in 2008 - before the rookie QB explosion, before spread concepts dominated Sundays - that perspective carries weight.
Flacco pointed to the evolution of the college game and how it feeds into the pros. In his view, today’s top QB prospects often ride a wave of potential from high school to the NFL without necessarily facing the same kind of adversity older generations did.
“If you’re a good high school recruit, you can kinda ride your way through college,” he said. “They’re gonna pick you because you have potential.”
It’s not bitterness - it’s context. Flacco came up during a transition period in the league, where the game was beginning to shift toward protecting players more aggressively, especially quarterbacks.
But he still carries the mindset of an earlier era. And that’s where his commentary on the current state of the game really kicks in.
“I don’t think it should be roughing the passer when they land on us,” Flacco said. “I don’t think being slapped in the head should be roughing the passer.”
For him, those calls - especially when they come in high-leverage moments - disrupt the rhythm and integrity of games. “It honestly annoys me, because it affects games in a negative way at random times.
And they can call it or not call it. It needs to get out of the game.”
Flacco’s not dismissing the importance of player safety - he acknowledges the awareness around CTE and the long-term effects of hits. But he’s also coming from the perspective of someone who played under a different set of expectations.
“We signed up to play,” he said. “Guys of my generation probably benefit a little bit from having that mindset.”
That mindset - physical, unfiltered, and rooted in accountability - is something Flacco believes is fading. He joked that younger players look at him like he’s crazy when he talks about wanting receivers to get hit over the middle or defenders being allowed to land on quarterbacks. “I’m like, ‘Yeah guys, it’s football.’”
And for Flacco, it’s not just about the quarterbacks. He’s concerned about what the rule changes have done to defensive players too.
“Guys can’t even play defense as aggressively, because they’re getting fined so much money for just normal hits,” he said. “It’s changed the game a lot.
And I don’t think we’re going back.”
At 41, Flacco’s still out there slinging it - and doing it with the same edge he brought into the league nearly two decades ago. Just days before the podcast dropped, he made his first-ever Pro Bowl appearance, tossing touchdown passes to Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase in the 2026 Pro Bowl Games at San Francisco’s Moscone Center.
It’s been a full-circle kind of season for Flacco. The Bengals acquired him from Cleveland in October, and he stepped in after Joe Burrow went down with a turf toe injury in Week 2.
Over nine games - six of them starts - Flacco completed 158 of 254 passes for 1,664 yards and 13 touchdowns. Not bad for a guy many thought was done.
Now, as he heads into free agency, Flacco’s future is uncertain. But his voice - and his perspective - remain as relevant as ever.
He’s not just reflecting on how the game’s changed. He’s giving us a window into what it meant to play it when the rules were different, the hits were harder, and the road to success wasn’t paved with projections and potential - it was earned, the hard way.