Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco might be dull, but his brother still wants to follow in his footsteps.
Mike Flacco has been a professional baseball player in the Orioles system since they made him a 31st-round draft pick in 2009, spending last season as an outfielder/first baseman for the team’s Single and Double-A minor league affiliates. He’s not looking to move up the ladder to the major leagues in the 2013 season, however.
The younger Flacco, who is 26, doesn’t want to play baseball at all anymore and is training in New Jersey to make the leap to the NFL. He hasn’t played football since high school, but has added 30 pounds of muscle to his 6-5 frame in hopes of interesting a team in his services as a tight end. Mike Flacco knows his last name might be of as much use as his athletic ability.
“I want to be there with him,” Mike Flacco said, via Mike Garafolo of USA Today. “I see everything he’s doing on the field and off the field, I want to do the same things. I’m just excited for Joe, excited to go down there. My stuff is my stuff. I’ve got to find my own ground. I know all of Joe’s success may help me, but at the same time I have to find what I want to do.”
The last name should be enough to get him at least a chance to show what he can do as teams put together their 90-men rosters over the next few months. He’ll have to earn anything more than that on his own merit and it’s definitely a long shot that the 2013 NFL season will kick off with two Flaccos on the field.
