Joe Flacco has spent most of his life playing football. Now, the Bengals quarterback has admitted he has no idea what he will do when his NFL career finally ends.

The 41-year-old opened up about retirement during an appearance on the Michael Irvin Podcast. Irvin, who has built a career in sports media after retiring from the NFL, gave Flacco some honest advice about holding on to his playing career for as long as possible.

"I hear you, man. I'm not good at anything else. Like, come on, I'm not going to be sitting where you're sitting right now doing a podcast, that's for sure," Flacco said on July 16. "I'm screwed, man. I don't know what I'm gonna do. I hope something falls in my lap, but if that doesn't happen, I don't know what I'm gonna do."

The Baltimore Ravens drafted Flacco in 2008, and he has gone on to throw for 48,176 yards and 272 touchdowns in 18 years. He also won Super Bowl XLVII with the Ravens.

"People play basketball and golf for fun. I mean, at a certain point, football is a little bit different than that. You're grinding. And it's a little bit different today. It's not as much of a grind, but it still is football. So there is an expiration date. I'm just not exactly sure when that is yet," Flacco said on the Michael Irvin Podcast on July 16.

Irvin leveraged his own post-playing days into prominent analyst roles with ESPN and NFL Network before launching his independent show, The White House with Michael Irvin.

For now, Flacco remains an active competitor, signing a one-year, $6 million contract with the Bengals to back up Joe Burrow during the 2026 season

While his post-football future remains unwritten, Flacco’s veteran presence in the Bengals' locker room is already making an impact and sparking plenty of jokes.

What was Joe Burrow really teasing Joe Flacco about?

Joe Flacco may have been around the NFL for almost two decades, but Joe Burrow’s friends saw him a bit differently.

A highlight from Season 3 of Netflix’s Quarterback captures the moment Burrow revealed his friends’ hilarious take on the veteran's sideline look.

"My friends were making fun of how he sits on the bench on the sideline," Burrow said on the docuseries, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. "They were like, 'He just looks like an old wise man.'"

Flacco is 41 and entering his 19th NFL season, so Burrow's toy made for a pretty funny moment between the two Bengals quarterbacks.

In October, he completed 31 of 47 passes for 342 yards and three touchdowns in Cincinnati's 33-31 win over Aaron Rodgers and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The game was called the "Icy Hot Bowl" because it was only the second time in NFL history that two quarterbacks aged 40 or older faced each other in a regular-season or playoff game.

The joke may have been about Flacco's age, but his 2025 season showed he was still capable of producing some big moments.

What do you think Joe Flacco should do after football? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

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Written by

Debanjali Rakshit

Edited by

Shubhi Rathore