Joe Flacco’s Brutally Honest Message About Whether He’s a ‘Mentor’ to Shedeur Sanders, Dillon Gabriel Goes Viral

Veteran quarterback Joe Flacco, currently competing for the starting job with the Cleveland Browns, has sparked viral attention with his candid remarks on whether he views himself as a mentor to rookies Shedeur Sanders and Dillon Gabriel. Flacco’s response was as honest as it was layered, pushing back on a narrative he feels is inherently flawed.

Joe Flacco’s Honest Take on Being a Mentor to Browns Rookie Quarterbacks

Flacco, the longest-tenured and most accomplished quarterback in the Browns’ complex QB room, was asked about mentoring younger teammates like Sanders and Gabriel. Instead of offering a media-friendly platitude, he challenged the framing of the question itself.

#Browns QB Joe Flacco was asked about mentoring young quarterbacks — and gave one of the best, most thoughtful answers I’ve seen from a veteran on the topic.

This is as well as you can put it.

(via @RuiterWrongFAN)pic.twitter.com/AofI7otnVO

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) May 29, 2025

“It’s a good question to bait somebody into answering, and no matter how they answer it, it kind of makes the guy that’s answering it look bad,” Flacco said at Browns OTAs. “If I say, ‘I don’t want to be a mentor,’ I look bad. If I say, ‘I do want to be a mentor,’ then I look like an idiot that doesn’t care about being good and playing football.”

Flacco emphasized that his job is to play football and contribute meaningfully to the team. His experience, he said, creates opportunities for natural mentorship — but it’s not something he feels responsible to enforce.

“I tend to try to be honest, and I’ve said, ‘I’m not a mentor. I play football.’ And in a quarterback room, there’s a lot of times — already, there’s been already a ton of times — where there’s learning experiences and I have a lot of experience, and I can talk on things, and hopefully they listen. But it’s not necessarily my job to make sure they listen to me.”

While many headlines in the past have cast Flacco as reluctant to embrace a mentorship role — including stints alongside Lamar Jackson, Drew Lock, Sam Darnold, and Anthony Richardson — his stance has remained consistent. He doesn’t reject mentorship entirely but views it as something best done through action.

“The best way to be a mentor, honestly, is to show people how you go to work. Like I said, hope they pick up on that stuff, but not necessarily force them to pick up on the things that you do.”

At age 40, Flacco is battling Kenny Pickett, Dillon Gabriel, and Shedeur Sanders for the 2025 starting role. Given Pickett’s struggles and the rookies’ developmental timelines, Flacco is considered a frontrunner. Still, he made it clear that his focus remains on playing, not preparing his successors.

“Once again, it’s not really about that. It’s just not the main focus. I see myself as a guy who can play in this league… if your main focus was just, ‘Hey, bud, I’m going to get you ready,’ you’re just not taking care of business.”

His blunt honesty resonated across media platforms — not because it was controversial, but because it was refreshingly real.