When Aaron Rodgers’ much-anticipated debut season in New York came to an end after just four plays, the Jets had Zach Wilson and Tim Boyle on the roster. Was there a consideration to bring in veteran Joe Flacco?
“We love Joe, first and foremost,” head coach Robert Saleh said Tuesday. “Obviously, we spent a couple of years with him. I love him. I love the way he prepares, really pumped for him and the success he’s having.
“But it’s just the decision we made in terms of the quarterback room and the way we developed it over the course of OTAs and training camp, and it was just decision that we made.”
At the time of Rodgers’ injury, the Jets decided not to call the 38-year-old who had played 12 games (nine starts) for Gang Green over the last three seasons. Instead, they opted to sign another one-time Jet in Trevor Siemian, who had some familiarity with Nathaniel Hackett’s system, to the practice squad after the Week 3 defeat to New England amid questions about Wilson’s level of play and a sputtering offense.
Did Flacco's name come up in discussions between Saleh and GM Joe Douglas at that time? “There’s always going to be discussions. There was a bunch of guys that we talked about,” the head coach said.
In the end, the Jets never called and New York's Week 17 opponents were the beneficiaries.
“There’s all kinds of things that happen throughout the course of the season and offseason and things like that,” Flacco told the media on Tuesday. “I enjoyed my time while I was there and it is what it is. I’m happy to be where I am, that’s for sure.”
Ultimately Flacco would remain unattached – as he did for the entirety of the offseason and training camp – until the Cleveland Browns signed him to their practice squad amid a QB injury crisis of their own in Week 12.
Of course, entering Thursday's battle between the Browns' and Jets' fourth-string QBs only with the power of hindsight does the Jets’ decision seem like a missed opportunity. Had the veteran not gone 3-1 as Cleveland's starter, while throwing for 1,307 yards and 10 touchdowns, to keep the Browns firmly in the playoff hunt all of this would be a moot point.
But even with that hindsight, Saleh said that he doesn’t regret bringing in the quarterback he admits “has a soft spot with all of us.”
“No, never regret because, like I said, you always go into things with what you hope being a sound decision,” he said. “The biggest thing is to reflect upon those decisions and see what we could have done better as a coaching staff, as an organization, but every decision we make feels like it comes with deep thought and logic, but no, there’s no regret there.”
When watching Flacco in preparation for this week the head coach doesn’t let himself even ponder a what if?
“No, I don’t think I ever let myself go there,” Saleh said, “but I am pumped to watch him play.”
Instead, it is the Browns benefiting from having a quarterback that Saleh compares to a dependable truck when the weather – forecasted for cold and rain Thursday in Cleveland – turns sour.
"I’ve said it before, he's like a Ford pickup truck: You might not like it in the summer, but in the winter months – December, January – that son of a gun starts humming,” he said this week about Flacco. “And he's playing some really, really, really good football."