Bengals' Joe Flacco Reacts to Giants Trade Buzz on Video After Jaxson Dart's Season-Ending Injury

New York Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart is out for the regular season after suffering a left knee injury, leading to speculation that Big Blue will add a quarterback to the roster even though Jameis Winston is now entrenched as the new starter.

Cincinnati Bengals backup quarterback Joe Flacco has been mentioned as a possibility, and Kelsey Conway of the Cincinnati Enquirer asked the 19-year veteran about the chatter on Thursday.

"I just get a kick out of it, I mean, because the stuff happened yesterday, but it's obviously not real and not true, but it was good enough to get people, like certain friends of mine, and things like that," Flacco began.

"It was good enough to get them to text me, 'Hey, I'll see you in New York.' And I was like, 'No guys, you won't, you know that's not true.'

"I kind of just get a little kick out of it, I haven't really given it too much thought at this point.

Conway also asked Flacco how he manages his desire to play with the fact that he's happy with his current home in Cincinnati.

"In these cases, it's not up to me," Flacco said. "I'm on the Cincinnati Bengals and because of that, that's my focus. Being here, doing the things that I need to do to get better each day while I'm here. Make sure I'm absorbing the game plan and all of those things. I get a little bit of a kick out of it, but it's kind out of my hands. I'm a Cincinnati Bengal, and I'm doing everything I can to get ready for the Pittsburgh Steelers."

As Conway noted, it doesn't make sense for the Bengals to part ways with Flacco.

"It's highly unlikely the Bengals would be interested in trading Flacco. Cincinnati gave Flacco a lucrative deal for a backup position because of how much they value him. Flacco's contract is $6 million for one season and can go up to $9 million with incentives.

"For the Bengals to shell out that much money for a player who doesn't even start, it shows how highly the organization thinks of him. The Bengals saw the importance of having a backup quarterback who can carry the offense and win games in 2025."

As for the Giants, they just signed Winston to a two-year, $13.5 million contract extension. Simply put, Big Blue paid a premium for a high-end backup quarterback in case Dart was lost to injury. Sadly, that's the case, so now Winston is calling the shots.

One can surmise the talk about the Giants bringing in a quarterback has popped up because Winston played poorly in relief of Dart in a 28-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams last Monday.

Winston completed just 11-of-27 passes for 111 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. Those are concerning numbers any way one slices it.

However, Winston kept the Giants competitive in two starts in relief of Dart last year, completing 37-of-65 passes for 567 yards and two touchdowns (two picks) while rushing for 23 yards and one score. He also caught a 33-yard touchdown on a trick play.

Both games ended in losses (27-20 to the Green Bay Packers and 34-27 in overtime to the Detroit Lions), but the Giants were in both games.

New York has a pair of winnable home games coming up against the Tennessee Titans and Arizona Cardinals. If Winston plays well, he'll quiet any quarterback talk. If he doesn't, the speculation will only grow that New York will look elsewhere in order to salvage the season. Before that stretch, ESPN's Adam Schefter has already connected the Giants to San Francisco 49ers backup Mac Jones and Arizona Cardinals second-stringer Gardner Minshew.

For now, though, Winston is QB1, and he'll lead the Giants out of the tunnel against Tennessee on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.