Cincinnati BengalsOur read
Written Sun 12:01 am Central, for week 6
Joe Flacco is on his bye with the Bengals in week 6 of 2026, so there's no lineup spot for him this week and a roster that has him needs a stopgap arm for Sunday. He hasn't logged a snap yet this season, sitting out the first five weeks, and Thursday's depth chart puts him second among Cincinnati quarterbacks behind Joe Burrow. His next chance comes week 7 on the road against the Ravens. Keep him stashed if you have the room, otherwise grab a quarterback who actually takes the field this week.
Written Oct 17, from his facts through last season
Joe Flacco has not played a snap in 2026. He sat out weeks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 of 2026, all five of them, and there is no injury designation explaining any of it. That is the whole situation right there: a 41-year-old quarterback, listed second among Cincinnati's QBs behind Joe Burrow, who has been healthy enough to dress and still watched five full weeks go by without playing. The bye in week 6 of 2026 is next, so the streak of blank boxes will run to six before he has any chance at all.
Before the season we gave him 56 points across the 7 games we expected, about 8.0 a game. Even that modest projection assumed he would see the field. Last season he threw for 143 points over 13 games, QB27 among 81 qualifying quarterbacks, and he cleared 15 points in just 4 of those weeks. His yards per touch fell from 2.9 in 2024 to 1.7 in 2025, and that kind of year-over-year slide on a body pushing 42 usually keeps sliding rather than reversing.
There is one number worth holding onto if you insist on keeping him: he has been a short-yardage piece, with 4 red-zone touches and 4 touches inside the ten in 2025, QB15 and QB8 among 64 qualifying quarterbacks. That is touchdown-or-nothing work, and it dried up fast when Zac Taylor pulled him out of the rotation, from a 96% snap share over weeks 1 to 4 of 2025 down to 32% over weeks 12 to 18 of 2025. He is not worth a roster spot while Burrow is healthy and he is not playing. If the situation in Cincinnati somehow flips and he starts taking snaps, revisit then. Until we see him on the field, he is an easy cut in any league.