Somehow, the 2026 NFL season is rapidly approaching, and equally stunning is the fact that it will once again feature Joe Flacco.
The 41-year-old is with the Cincinnati Bengals organization after a midseason trade in 2025, but spent training camp and the first part of the season with the Cleveland Browns. That Browns quarterback room was, without question, the most interesting one in football.
Joe Flacco, Kenny Pickett, and then the two rookies, Dillon Gabriel and, of course, Shedeur Sanders. Flacco’s role with the team was obvious: help the two rookies grow and develop as they learned the ins and outs of playing quarterback at the highest level.
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Joe Flacco of the Cleveland Browns looks to throw the ball against the Green Bay Packers at Huntington Bank Field on Sept. 21, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)
Both Sanders and Gabriel likely expected Flacco to help them read defenses, recognize blitzes and coverages, navigate a complex playbook, or learn the best ways to recover at the NFL level. But it’s doubtful Sanders expected the lesson Flacco wound up giving him on… helmet visors.
In a new episode of Netflix’s “Quarterback” show, Flacco absolutely went off on Sanders for his choice to wear a helmet visor in practice. Sanders and Gabriel were first adamant that they’re practical choices, then asked why they’re not useful since they function as an “eye shield.”
“Yeah, but if you wear a visor, it’s for looks,” Flacco said. “You think you look sweet. It’s that era. I don’t want my kids to wear visors either. They all want visors. I’m like, ‘Guys, they’re just annoying. They’re gonna fog up.’
“They f***** suck, dude. It’s all about look. When I was a kid I wanted a visor too, and then I’m like, ‘The visors suck. They don’t make sense.'”
He wasn’t done there.
Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders run a drill during the Cleveland Browns mandatory minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus in Berea, Ohio, on June 10, 2025. (Nick Cammett/Diamond Images)
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“I would let them wear it, but I would tell them, ‘You’re a quarterback, bro, you’re f****** wearing a visor? You look like a f***** idiot,'” he added. “If you’re a quarterback, you can tell (when) you’re trying to look too sweet.”
Hey, who’s going to argue with someone who’s been in the NFL since 2008? Well, Sanders, apparently, because he was still wearing one in minicamp ahead of this season. Though this time it was more clear than the mirror-like finish from last season.
Shedeur Sanders, No. 2 of the Cleveland Browns, throws a pass during mandatory minicamp at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus in Berea, Ohio, on June 9, 2026. (Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
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The Browns and Sanders open their preseason schedule on August 15 against the Bears, before starting the regular season on the road against the Jaguars on September 13. For Flacco and the Bengals, they have the Lions in their preseason opener, before hosting Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, also on September 13.
One thing’s for certain, Flacco won’t be wearing a visor in that game.
