If you didn’t know that Joe Flacco was the Colts’ backup quarterback, raise your hand.

I certainly didn’t as I watched Anthony Richardson struggle to stay in Indianapolis’ Week 4 game against the Steelers after taking a shot to the hip by safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.

But while I may have been shocked that the veteran Flacco came on in relief for the young Richardson, I definitely was not surprised that the former went on to complete 16 of 26 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns while leading his latest team to a 27-24 victory over Pittsburgh at Lucas Oil Stadium last Sunday afternoon.

This is who Flacco has been over the past six seasons, especially lately.

After the Ravens selected him 18th overall in the 2008 NFL Draft, Flacco went on to have the kind of career in Baltimore that few quarterbacks even dream of. Over his first five years, Flacco helped guide the Ravens to five playoff appearances, three trips to the AFC title game and a victory over the 49ers in Super Bowl LVII. During Baltimore’s four-game journey to its second Lombardi, Flacco threw 11 touchdowns which is tied for the most in NFL history for a single postseason. Flacco had his fantastic championship run just in time to begin negotiations for his second contract. He soon became the highest-paid quarterback in NFL history when Baltimore inked him to a six-year, $120.6 million contract that offseason. Due in part to how much Flacco’s new deal hindered their cap, the Ravens immediately began to part ways with several key players from their Super Bowl team. The trips to the postseason began to become less common, and when Baltimore did make it to the playoffs, it couldn’t produce the same results that it did during Flacco’s rookie contract.

Flacco remained the Ravens starting quarterback over the next five years. But Lamar Jackson, a first-round pick in the 2018 NFL Draft, supplanted Flacco as the team’s starter midway through his rookie season. Jackson helped rescue the Ravens’ floundering campaign and led them to an AFC North title.

The writing was on the wall for Flacco, and he was traded to Denver that offseason.

Flacco spent one unremarkable year with the Broncos. He only started eight games because of a major neck injury that cut his season short; he completed 171 of 262 passes for just 1,822 yards while throwing six touchdown passes to five interceptions.

As per his Wikipedia Page, the Broncos released Flacco during the 2020 offseason following a failed physical, and he subsequently had neck surgery.

Following a fantastic 11-year career in Baltimore where he accomplished so much personally and on a team level, you couldn’t have blamed Flacco if he decided to hang up his cleats at 35. He passed for 38,245 yards with the Ravens while throwing 212 touchdowns to only 136 interceptions. He was 96-67 as a starting quarterback in Baltimore and authored several big moments in the postseason. Most importantly, he owned a Super Bowl ring.

And if that wasn’t enough, Flacco had earned enough money for several lifetimes.

He gave it one final shot to be another team’s starter, but it didn’t work out. Oh well. Time to get on with his life’s work, right?

However, following his surgery, Flacco eventually signed on as the Jets’ backup quarterback in 2020. After one season in the Big Apple, Flacco signed a one-year deal with the Eagles to be their backup quarterback in 2021. Flacco was traded back to the Jets in October of that year and re-signed with them before the 2022 campaign.

Flacco was sitting on the couch for a good bit of the 2023 regular season, but several injuries at the quarterback spot forced the Browns to sign him to their practice squad. That’s right, a veteran quarterback of Flacco’s stature and accomplishments was okay with being signed to Cleveland’s practice squad. But Flacco was eventually elevated to the Browns’ roster and became their starting quarterback over the final five weeks of the season. He threw 13 touchdown passes while guiding Cleveland to an 11-6 record and a spot in the playoffs. Flacco’s 2023 campaign was so surprising and remarkable that he was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year.

Flacco signed a one-year, $.4.5 million deal with the Colts this past offseason and is now expected to start their Week 5 game in place of an injured Richardson.

What will Flacco do in Week 5? How will the remainder of his 2024 campaign play out in Indy? Will he continue to pursue backup quarterback deals after this season? Even though he’ll turn 40 in January, I wouldn’t blame him if he just kept going. Why not? What does he have to lose at this point? He’s made $180 million so far in his career. No team is going to sign him to be its starter, but $4 or 5 million a season to be someone’s backup quarterback wouldn’t be a bad way to make a living in his 40s.

Remember that bit comedian Daniel Tosh did several years ago about Brett Favre never retiring? Joe Flacco is living that life today.

Kudos to him.