Skip to main content

Other Than the Ring, Nothing's Changed

Joe Flacco on his not-so-wild Super Bowl MVP offseason, big money and—gasp—wearing an orange helmet

PETER KING: What was the most fun thing you did in your Super Bowl offseason?

JOE FLACCO: "The offseason was pretty normal, after the first the week-and-a-half or so. Me and my wife planned on going somewhere. Me, Dennis Pitta and Todd Heap—we went out to Vegas for a few days with our wives. We went out there for a few days right after the Super Bowl and just kind of caught up with each other. Then at the end of the summer, we always go spend a week at the Jersey shore, Sea Isle City. Right after that we went out to Montana.

Todd Heap has a place on Flathead Lake out there. That was pretty cool. I had been out there in the winter. We were actually out there for the Giants-Patriots Super Bowl after we lost a couple years ago. But other than that, no. I’ve got a little kid now, a 13-and-a-half-month-old, so it’s kind of everything revolves around him. Then my wife is due again in September, so, you know that’s what we did. It was fun. You’ve got a little kid. You won the Super Bowl. You’ve been married for a couple years. It was just kind of fun to hang out, relax, and hang around the family for a little bit. Run around and chase after our little guy, and get excited about having another one."

KING: Then you signed the big contract. Was it surreal to be the highest-paid player in football, even just for a few minutes?

FLACCO: "It’s a little surreal any time you sign a contract that’s worth the amount of money that I’ve signed for. I think people still look at it differently than I do. I don’t think that I took a gamble [by not signing last offseason for $17 million a year]. I think that I view it one way, and the average fan doesn’t quite understand all that went into it. I could have got hurt, yeah. But I was willing to live with that. That’s the one thing that my agent [Joe Linta] said when all that was going down. He said, 'Listen, think about the worst possible situation, and if you can live with that, then you’re making the right decision.' I said, 'Yeah, I’ve thought about the worst possible situation, and if that happens? Yeah, I’m cool.' "

KING: If the Ravens didn’t sign or exclusive-tag franchise you, did you understand there’s a chance the Browns might have gone after you? How strange would it have been to walk into Baltimore once a year as a Cleveland Brown?

FLACCO: