QB Joe Flacco is on his third AFC North team after the Cincinnati Bengals acquired him in a trade with the Cleveland Browns this week. The move shocked Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. After all, you don’t see trades inside a division very often, especially ones involving a quarterback.
But the Bengals desperately needed a quarterback, and the Browns had no interest in keeping Flacco around. While he didn’t immediately reverse the Bengals’ losing streak, he did give the team hope with two touchdown passes (and no interceptions) versus the Green Bay Packers. And one Steelers player wasn’t surprised by that.
“Joe’s been in the game a long time,” Steelers CB Darius Slay said Tuesday, per video from 93.7 The Fan’s Twitter/X account. “There ain’t too much new concepts you can do in this game that he ain’t not see before. I saw that being picked up pretty fast. I could see that connection getting better and better as the year get going on, because… he never threw to some guys like that before.”
#Steelers Darius Dlay was a teammate of Joe Flacco in Philly, he’s not surprised by early big plays in Cincy pic.twitter.com/juaC9Ty8vp
— 93.7 The Fan (@937theFan) October 14, 2025
Slay and Flacco may not have spent a ton of time together, but they were teammates on the Philadelphia Eagles. Flacco signed with the Eagles in 2021, but the Eagles traded him mid-season to the New York Jets. Evidently, that time left a good impression of Flacco on Slay.
There is no question that Joe Flacco has plenty of veteran experience. He’s less than two years younger than Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers, so he’s been around for quite a while. And he won a Super Bowl with the Baltimore Ravens.
Flacco showed his ability to step in mid-season back in 2024 with the Indianapolis Colts, too. Steelers fans (and Mike Tomlin) remember that all too well. Tomlin didn’t want to see Flacco in that Week 4 matchup between the Colts and Steelers. But lo and behold, the Steelers knocked the then-starting QB Anthony Richardson out of the game, forcing Flacco in. And Flacco stepped right in, throwing two touchdown passes in the win.
Now, as Slay said, Flacco’s got one of the best wide receiver duos in the league with Tee Higgins and Ja’Marr Chase. And Flacco is more than willing to put the ball in the air to let his guys make a play, like on this touchdown to Chase.
No. 1 is 1 of 1
CINvsGB on CBS/Paramount+https://t.co/HkKw7uXVnt pic.twitter.com/5Pj5Utr7ZX
— NFL (@NFL) October 12, 2025
Tomlin said that they’ve built their secondary specifically to deal with this wide receiver pairing, but it will be a fantastic battle. And you know the Steelers would have preferred Jake Browning under center for the Bengals instead of Joe Flacco. Will Flacco continue to be a thorn in the Steelers’ side?
