Former Ravens QB Joe Flacco Offers Huge Praise to Ethan Pocic

If there is anyone who knows how Baltimore Ravens center Ethan Pocic operates, it's former Cleveland Browns and Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco. 

Flacco played for the Browns in 2023 and 2025, both seasons that saw Pocic as the starting center. During an interview with Ryan Ripken, the signal called offered some huge praise on the new Baltimore lineman.

"I don't think I've been around anybody that wants to get it right more than he does," Flacco said of Pocic. "Just the level of care and commitment that he has preparing for game day and kind of making sure he is playing his role to the best he can. I don't think I've been around anybody that's more kind of committed to making sure he's on top of his role more than him." 

Flacco indicated that Pocic prepares in a major way for every game day. Despite tearing his Achilles in 2025, the center has been solid, starting 97 games in his career thus far.

The Ravens needed a quality center, and though they brought in Danny Pinter and Jovaughn Gwyn, along with having Corey Bullock, there was not much experience as a true starting center among them. Pinter has only 10 starts in his career.

On top of having quality starts, Pocic is also a big lineman. He comes in at 6-foot-6 and weighs 320 pounds. Flacco indicated that his size is what helped him most when being protected from oncoming defenders.

"He's big too; it's not like he's your typical center. For me, that was great. When I was getting under center, I didn't have to get in this gigantic crouch. It was a guy that I was comfortable easily kinda getting underneath. He gives you that extra size if he has to go one-on-one, and I think that's a huge plus," Flacco said.

Being big is a big plus for the Ravens' line, especially when it comes to protecting Lamar Jackson. That, and opening the run lanes for Derrick Henry, matters a great deal. 

With left tackle Ronnie Stanley, left guard John Simpson, Pocic in the center, Vega Ioane at right guard, and Roger Rosengarten in the right tackle position, this line could be solid. 

Pocic has seen a bit of a dip in his production and protection in the past two seasons, but that could also have been due to the line as a whole for the Browns. Now, he has quality players lining up with him each week.

The bigger silver lining for the Ravens is they now have a quality starting center, and backups should anything happen. Pinter, Gwyn, and Bullock could step in should they need to at any point during the regular season.