diff --git a/libpod/options.go b/libpod/options.go
index 5e10a63f04..badfe6b8c8 100644
--- a/libpod/options.go
+++ b/libpod/options.go
@@ -180,19 +180,6 @@ func WithConmonPath(path string) RuntimeOption {
 	}
 }
 
-// WithNetworkBackend specifies the name of the network backend.
-func WithNetworkBackend(name string) RuntimeOption {
-	return func(rt *Runtime) error {
-		if rt.valid {
-			return define.ErrRuntimeFinalized
-		}
-
-		rt.config.Network.NetworkBackend = name
-
-		return nil
-	}
-}
-
 // WithCgroupManager specifies the manager implementation name which is used to
 // handle cgroups for containers.
 // Current valid values are "cgroupfs" and "systemd".
diff --git a/pkg/domain/infra/runtime_libpod.go b/pkg/domain/infra/runtime_libpod.go
index 64f8992487..2deb63f182 100644
--- a/pkg/domain/infra/runtime_libpod.go
+++ b/pkg/domain/infra/runtime_libpod.go
@@ -164,9 +164,6 @@ func getRuntime(ctx context.Context, fs *flag.FlagSet, opts *engineOpts) (*libpo
 	if fs.Changed("tmpdir") {
 		options = append(options, libpod.WithTmpDir(cfg.ContainersConf.Engine.TmpDir))
 	}
-	if fs.Changed("network-backend") {
-		options = append(options, libpod.WithNetworkBackend(cfg.ContainersConf.Network.NetworkBackend))
-	}
 
 	if fs.Changed("events-backend") {
 		options = append(options, libpod.WithEventsLogger(cfg.ContainersConf.Engine.EventsLogger))
@@ -208,8 +205,6 @@ func getRuntime(ctx context.Context, fs *flag.FlagSet, opts *engineOpts) (*libpo
 		options = append(options, libpod.WithStaticDir(opts.config.ContainersConfDefaultsRO.Engine.StaticDir))
 	}
 
-	// TODO flag to set CNI plugins dir?
-
 	if !opts.withFDS {
 		options = append(options, libpod.WithEnableSDNotify())
 	}