Steelers’ Mike Tomlin Gets Blunt on Joe Flacco Trade

PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Steelers go from one AFC North battle to another one as they meet the Cincinnati Bengals in their Week 7 contest. The Steelers will face off against a familiar, yet unexpected face when they travel to Cincinnati, as the Bengals will start former Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco.

Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin found it completely bizarre that the Bengals landed Flacco. He began the season a member of the Browns, but after an injury to Cincinnati starter Joe Burrow, the Bengals went on the hunt for a spot starter and wound up with the former Super Bowl winner in Joe Flacco.

According to Tomlin, the move was a head scratching one by Browns general manager Andrew Berry. When asked about the move by reporters, the Steelers head coach was just a bit critical as he let his feelings be known.

”To be honest, it was shocking to me,” Tomlin conceded.

”Andrew Berry must be a lot smarter than me or us," he continued. "Because it doesn’t make sense to me to trade a quarterback that you think enough of to make your opening-day starter to a division opponent that’s hurting in that area. But that’s just my personal feelings."

Football player throws bal — Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco (160 throws a pass during the fourth quarter of their game Sunday, October 12, 2025 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Green Bay Packers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 27-18. | Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Never Help Your Opponents

What Tomlin is speaking to here is the highest level of competition and eagerness to battle between opponents. Because he and his team have such a fiery approach to their competition, the thought of dealing a player to a divisional rival that could possibly help them is a lost concept.

What makes it even worse is that this move can only help the Bengals. In what world would trading away Flacco, the most experienced quarterback on the Cleveland roster full of young QBs, improve their roster? And in what world would the draft pick going back the other way do anything worthwhile for the Cleveland franchise?

The answer is, it doesn’t. Which only adds more fuel to the fire and reason for Tomlin to air his frustrations.

There was one recent example that bucks this trend, however. Back in 2020, the Steelers made a trade with their bitterest of rivals, the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens send the Steelers defensive lineman Chris Wormley in exchange for a late-round draft pick. It was a relatively minor deal, as the Steelers added a depth lineman in Wormley and the Ravens received a fifth-round pick in 2021, but it still stands as one of the only counter-examples to Tomlin's words.

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