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Joe Flacco wrapped up his best season since he left the Baltimore Ravens, but that's not a reason for the New York Jets to target the quarterback. At least, that appears to be the case according to NFL analyst Jeff Darlington. The analyst explained his reasoning why on Tuesday's edition of "Get Up."
"I'm not one of these people who is 'Yes. Cool. Joe Flacco did a nice job with the Browns.' The Jets are all in with Aaron Rodgers. I am not one of those people who think that if they had a better backup this past season, they'd be in the Super Bowl."
He continued, emphasizing the importance of dumping every last penny into the offensive line:
"They need more offensive line. Any money should not be devoted to the backup quarterback. It should be devoted to the offensive line."
Joe Flacco outpaces Aaron Rodgers for first time since 2017
Most agree that should Joe Flacco make a return to the New York Jets, it would be as a backup quarterback behind Aaron Rodgers. However, one additional awkward tidbit throwing shade on such an event would be that Flacco out-produced Rodgers last season.
Of course, the Jets quarterback was unable to finish a single series due to injury. But obvious caveat aside, Flacco's numbers were bigger than Rodgers. Last season, the Cleveland Browns quarterback threw for 13 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Meanwhile, Rodgers had no completions, no yards, no touchdowns, and no interceptions.
The last time Flacco threw for more touchdowns than Rodgers was in 2017, when he threw for 18 touchdowns to Rodgers' 16 touchdowns. Flacco also threw for more yards as well with 3,141 yards over Rodgers' 1,675 yards. That said, Rodgers missed much of that season due to injury as well.
The last two times that Flacco had more yards and passing touchdowns than Rodgers, the New York Jets quarterback had missed parts of the season due to injury. Still, bigger numbers trump all. Some will argue that the best ability is availability, while others would rather have a higher ceiling with a risk of much less.
Either way, getting Flacco back might be tougher this time around for the Jets, should they elect to go that route.
