Former Raven Challenges Joe Flacco's Leadership for not Embracing Mentor Role in Cleveland

A reporter tried to trap Browns quarterback Joe Flacco with a loaded question about being a mentor. Flacco didn’t fall for the trap. Instead, he shut it down with a simple truth: “I’m not a mentor; I play football.” At 40 years old, with a Super Bowl ring and nearly two decades in the league, Flacco has nothing left to prove. From the sound of his answer, he also doesn’t have any interest in playing media games. If the younger guys are smart, they’ll spend less time worrying about what Flacco calls himself and more time learning from a guy who’s still out there getting it done.

Of course, not all understand Flacco’s answer. His former Baltimore Ravens teammate, Chris Canty labeled Flacco’s response as “ridiculous.” Canty ranted on ESPN’s “Unsportsmanlike” show, "Mentoring a young player is only going to make that player better, which makes the team better. You're only as strong as your weakest link. The whole point of the exercise is that everybody makes everyone better. That's why you practice. You're making each other better. It's what you're supposed to do. You do that with the reps on the practice field, but you also do that by sharing points and notes in the film room."

Canty is wrong on a number of levels. A team isn't only as strong as it's weakest link. Only the top players make the final roster, and only the best of those make it onto the field.

Canty's remarks ring especially hollow when considering the quarterback position. The Patriots Dynasty relied on future first-ballot Hall of Famer Tom Brady to be dominant, not any of his backup quarterbacks. And the Browns will have their strongest option under center come Week 1. Only one quarterback can take the field at a time, so if Flacco's backup is trash, that won't effect the Browns unless he gets hurt. Canty seemed to acknowledge that fact.

"It's a ridiculous answer from Joe Flacco," Canty continued. "There's no guarantee Joe Flacco is going to be healthy for 17 games, especially at 40 years old."

A mentor is only a mentor to a person who wants to be a mentee. It appears Canty is placing the responsibility of not only being a mentor on Flacco, but also the responsibility of ensuring all of those young quarterbacks adopt the mentee role. Apparently, Canty didn’t listen as closely as he should have to Flacco because Flacco clearly explained that concept: “Already there’s been 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.”

Perhaps Canty would’ve made for a poor mentee.

At his age, Flacco isn’t the future of any NFL team, but for at least one more season, he’s going to be a competitor, and hopefully the other quarterbacks will choose to learn from him. So the real headline isn’t whether Joe Flacco is willing to be a mentor to Shedeur Sanders. It’s whether the next generation is smart enough to realize there’s one standing right in front of them.