Super Bowl-winning quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens - Joe Flacco - was rewarded for his spectacular playoff efforts by becoming the highest paid player in NFL history (for now) when he was offered (and accepted) a six-year deal worth $120.6 million.
What has resulted since the Flacco signing for the Ravens? In addition to future Hall-of-Fame linebacker Ray Lewis and center Matt Birk retiring, Baltimore: traded veteran wide receiver Anquan Boldin to San Francisco, released safety Bernard Pollard and guard Bobbie Williams, and lost linebackers Dannell Ellerbe (Miami), Paul Krueger (Cleveland) and cornerback Cary Williams (Philadelphia) to free agency. Veteran free safety Ed Reed will likely land elsewhere as well. To this point, the Ravens have lost two starters on offense (and a back-up) and four on defense (as well as a back-up) - five if Reed takes his services elsewhere. To this point, Baltimore has also yet to sign their: 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-string tight ends (Ed Dickson, Dennis Pitta, and Billy Bajema), their 1st- and 2nd-string free safeties (the before-mentioned Ed Reed and Sean Considine), 2nd-string defensive end (Arthur Jones), 2nd-string nose-tackle (Ma'ake Kemoeatu), and 1st-string left tackle (Bryant McKinnie). So, Baltimore is guaranteed to have just 7 of 11 offensive starters and 6 of 11 defensive starters (13 of 22 total) from their 2012-2013 Super Bowl-winning team on their 2013-2014 roster.
While Flacco put up video-game worthy numbers in the playoffs and is a pretty solid NFL quarterback, still with plenty of upside, he's likely not going to be worth sacrificing so many quality NFL players. In the 2012-2013 season, Flacco ranked: 15th in completions (317), 14th in attempts (531), 19th in completion percentage (59.7), 14th in passing yards (3,817), 16th in yards per game (239), 14th in yards per attempt (7.19), tied for 15th in touchdown passes (22), 8th in sacks allowed (8th most with 35), and 12th in quarterback rating (87.7). Based on those numbers, Flacco had a better-than-average regular season this past year. This is how his five-year NFL career has played out to this point - better-than-average in the regular season and great in the postseason if the Ravens made the playoffs. In his five years as the Ravens starter, Flacco has put up the following numbers: completed 1,507 of 2,489 passes (60.5%) for 17,633 yards (7.08 average), 102 touchdowns, 56 interceptions, and a quarterback rating of 86.3 (average season: 301.4 of 497.8 for 3,526.6 yards, 20.4 touchdowns, and 11.2 interceptions). Flacco's averages would give him the following ranks if applied to the 2012-2013 season: 18th in completions, 19th in attempts, 17th in completion percentage, 18th in passing yards, 16th in yards per completion, and 19th in touchdown passes. Those rankings are very average.
Joe Flacco went on a great run this past postseason en route to a Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers. He's also young enough where it's quite possible he's yet to reach his peak. However, throughout his five years as a starter, his numbers have been between average and above-average, and even with his great performance in this past postseason, he's likely not going to be worth his current price tag in the long-run, especially at the cost of losing so many quality NFL players. The Ravens may have won the Super Bowl this past year, but are going to be hard-pressed to even win their division this next season, let alone the Super Bowl.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9052336/the-joe-flacco-contract-fallout
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9066834/john-harbaugh-baltimore-ravens-roster-change-part-nfl
http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/bal/baltimore-ravens
http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/bal/baltimore-ravens
http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/player/_/stat/passing/sort/quarterbackRating/year/2012/seasontype/2
What has resulted since the Flacco signing for the Ravens? In addition to future Hall-of-Fame linebacker Ray Lewis and center Matt Birk retiring, Baltimore: traded veteran wide receiver Anquan Boldin to San Francisco, released safety Bernard Pollard and guard Bobbie Williams, and lost linebackers Dannell Ellerbe (Miami), Paul Krueger (Cleveland) and cornerback Cary Williams (Philadelphia) to free agency. Veteran free safety Ed Reed will likely land elsewhere as well. To this point, the Ravens have lost two starters on offense (and a back-up) and four on defense (as well as a back-up) - five if Reed takes his services elsewhere. To this point, Baltimore has also yet to sign their: 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-string tight ends (Ed Dickson, Dennis Pitta, and Billy Bajema), their 1st- and 2nd-string free safeties (the before-mentioned Ed Reed and Sean Considine), 2nd-string defensive end (Arthur Jones), 2nd-string nose-tackle (Ma'ake Kemoeatu), and 1st-string left tackle (Bryant McKinnie). So, Baltimore is guaranteed to have just 7 of 11 offensive starters and 6 of 11 defensive starters (13 of 22 total) from their 2012-2013 Super Bowl-winning team on their 2013-2014 roster.
While Flacco put up video-game worthy numbers in the playoffs and is a pretty solid NFL quarterback, still with plenty of upside, he's likely not going to be worth sacrificing so many quality NFL players. In the 2012-2013 season, Flacco ranked: 15th in completions (317), 14th in attempts (531), 19th in completion percentage (59.7), 14th in passing yards (3,817), 16th in yards per game (239), 14th in yards per attempt (7.19), tied for 15th in touchdown passes (22), 8th in sacks allowed (8th most with 35), and 12th in quarterback rating (87.7). Based on those numbers, Flacco had a better-than-average regular season this past year. This is how his five-year NFL career has played out to this point - better-than-average in the regular season and great in the postseason if the Ravens made the playoffs. In his five years as the Ravens starter, Flacco has put up the following numbers: completed 1,507 of 2,489 passes (60.5%) for 17,633 yards (7.08 average), 102 touchdowns, 56 interceptions, and a quarterback rating of 86.3 (average season: 301.4 of 497.8 for 3,526.6 yards, 20.4 touchdowns, and 11.2 interceptions). Flacco's averages would give him the following ranks if applied to the 2012-2013 season: 18th in completions, 19th in attempts, 17th in completion percentage, 18th in passing yards, 16th in yards per completion, and 19th in touchdown passes. Those rankings are very average.
Joe Flacco went on a great run this past postseason en route to a Super Bowl victory over the San Francisco 49ers. He's also young enough where it's quite possible he's yet to reach his peak. However, throughout his five years as a starter, his numbers have been between average and above-average, and even with his great performance in this past postseason, he's likely not going to be worth his current price tag in the long-run, especially at the cost of losing so many quality NFL players. The Ravens may have won the Super Bowl this past year, but are going to be hard-pressed to even win their division this next season, let alone the Super Bowl.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9052336/the-joe-flacco-contract-fallout
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9066834/john-harbaugh-baltimore-ravens-roster-change-part-nfl
http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/bal/baltimore-ravens
http://espn.go.com/nfl/team/_/name/bal/baltimore-ravens
http://espn.go.com/nfl/statistics/player/_/stat/passing/sort/quarterbackRating/year/2012/seasontype/2
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