6 of last 12 Super Bowl participants had starting QBs on rookie deals

[WrongBaldy]

I guess any average QB would have won playoff games in five straight years, gone to three AFCCs, and won a championship, right? No other QB in the history of the NFL has done that, but I'm sure any average guy would have.

you are right, flacco is Elite. my bad
he did all that by him self

[ClericBlackDave]

you are right, flacco is Elite. my bad
he did all that by him self

No-one is saying that (anymore). Come on dude, don't set up a strawman to defeat.


The point is, you need a QB - not an average QB, a GOOD QB at least - to consistently win playoff games. The other other way to do it is to have a roster that is overwhelmingly better than the field. Which is rare.


Flacco is/was a good QB. Who cares if he was elite, he knew how to win in the playoffs. His record would be more impressive if not for key drops by Houshmanzadeh, Mason, Boldin, Lee Evans, and others. Give credit where credit is due.


His body might be breaking down. Pyshcologically, his head might not have been in the game recently. More likely, Newsome didn't invest in offense the last 5 years and the only real weapons we had was Steve Smith Sr., who we lucked into due to a good relationship with Harbaugh. But Flacco, when he was given weapons and/or was in a credible system/situation, was/is a winner.


Even the last 2 years, its been teh defense who folds like a house of cards late to Pees-vent a playoff berth. So glad Pees is gone.

[arnie_uk]

No-one is saying that (anymore). Come on dude, don't set up a strawman to defeat.


The point is, you need a QB - not an average QB, a GOOD QB at least - to consistently win playoff games. The other other way to do it is to have a roster that is overwhelmingly better than the field. Which is rare.


Flacco is/was a good QB. Who cares if he was elite, he knew how to win in the playoffs. His record would be more impressive if not for key drops by Houshmanzadeh, Mason, Boldin, Lee Evans, and others. Give credit where credit is due.


His body might be breaking down. Pyshcologically, his head might not have been in the game recently. More likely, Newsome didn't invest in offense the last 5 years and the only real weapons we had was Steve Smith Sr., who we lucked into due to a good relationship with Harbaugh. But Flacco, when he was given weapons and/or was in a credible system/situation, was/is a winner.


Even the last 2 years, its been teh defense who folds like a house of cards late to Pees-vent a playoff berth. So glad Pees is gone.

This. The flacco now is not the flacco we had a few years ago. Don't re write history.

Flacco wasn't mediocre when he signed that deal. Him and ryan were neck and neck, ryan had slightly better stats, flacco upped his game in the big moments, night games at pitts, the playoffs etc when ryan crumbled.

He thoroughly deserved that deal after the championship run.

[DeltaRaven]

This. The flacco now is not the flacco we had a few years ago. Don't re write history.

Flacco wasn't mediocre when he signed that deal. Him and ryan were neck and neck, ryan had slightly better stats, flacco upped his game in the big moments, night games at pitts, the playoffs etc when ryan crumbled.

He thoroughly deserved that deal after the championship run.

Agreed. We would've gotten a much better ROI on the Flacco deal if we gave him more than SSR during the post-SB era. What really killed Flacco was trading Boldin, Pitta's hip, and Ray Rice effectively getting kicked out of the league. None of them, save for 2014, were ever adequately replaced until now.

[cleaver]

And where will those teams end up? Also Minnesota (Kirk Cousins) and Atlanta (Matt Ryan) are not mediocre qb's. They are good sort of in that second group below the elite guys when I'm talking mediocre I'm talking Flacco, Dalton, Bortles, Taylor, etc.

My top 13 QBs: Arod, Brady, Russell Wilson, Brees, Cam Newton, Wentz, Big Ben, Stafford, Rivers, Garoppolo, Luck, Goff, Watson. So I've got Ryan and Cousins 14th and 15th - slightly above average starters - and the 2 highest paid players ever. Flacco, Bortles, and Keenum well below average QBs making $18M or more. The Vikes are built to win last year so it makes sense for them to go big short term, the Falcons must think they've still got the horses, but the Jags missed an opportunity to upgrade or at least bring in a cheaper alternative.

[BMORERavens]

This. The flacco now is not the flacco we had a few years ago. Don't re write history.

Flacco wasn't mediocre when he signed that deal. Him and ryan were neck and neck, ryan had slightly better stats, flacco upped his game in the big moments, night games at pitts, the playoffs etc when ryan crumbled.

He thoroughly deserved that deal after the championship run.

Flacco also wasn’t taking up 14 percent on the salary cap then. He too was on his Rookie deal.

I agree that there’s been two different Flacco’s: a very motivated Flacco and and not so motivated Flacco. I caution using the term motivation because to be a athlete you must have some form of motivation to continually go through the grind day in and day out. So Flacco “is” motivated, but is he motivated like he was when he was betting on himself. The answer is clearly no. Some people make sacrifices to be great daily, weekly, and quarterly. Whether it’s family sacrifices to have a better career or your professional sacrifices to have a better family life. It can be difficult to juggle the two equally. Flacco has chose the latter (family), which I’m not overly mad at him for.

This article by Bucky Brooks explains precisely what this OP has stated:


http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300...vy-qb-spending

I’ll quote the article here as well.

Sure, quarterback is the most important position on the field, but not every signal-caller is viewed as a "truck" (as in, the QB carries the team) by evaluators around the league. Some are seen as "trailers" (as in, the team carries the QB). With each new quarterback contract topping the last -- earlier this month, Matt Ryan's record-setting extension with the Falcons placed him at the head of a parade of QBs inking big-money deals this offseason, including Jimmy Garoppolo and Kirk Cousins -- let's take a closer look at this issue.

The "trucks" are the elite guys capable of elevating the play of a pedestrian supporting cast through their own talents. They can win without marquee names on the perimeter, and they can mask the major flaws of the squad with their stellar play. Surveying the league, I believe you could put Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Philip Rivers, Ben Roethlisberger, Cam Newton and Matthew Stafford in that special category, based on what they do for their current squads. While we can debate whether another quarterback or two should be included on the list, the point remains that only a handful of guys are in the VIP circle when it comes to playing the position like a true franchise quarterback.

So I can't understand why teams continue to overpay middling players at the position when we know those players aren't single-handedly capable of reversing the fortunes of the franchise on the strength of their arm and playmaking ability. Sure, they can win games, but to get the job done at the highest level, they need support, whether in the form of a dominant No. 1 receiver, an explosive multi-purpose running back or a solid offensive line. Granted, football is ultimately a team game, but if you're going to pay a quarterback $20 million-plus, he needs to be the best player on the team, or you're jeopardizing your chances of building the right supporting cast to help him lead the team to significant wins.

Don't believe me? It's not a coincidence that only three Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks since 2006 have had a cap number that was 10 percent or more of the league salary cap in that year, according to numbers found at Over The Cap(Peyton Manning twice, Eli Manning and Tom Brady once), with at least two of those players (Peyton and Brady) qualifying as franchise quarterbacks. And consider that every Super Bowl QB in that span who took up 14 percent or more of the salary cap lost (Peyton Manning twice, Matt Ryan once). Thus, it appears that overpaying quarterbacks is a recipe for disaster for most squads.

(Some quick notes on those numbers: The uncapped 2010 season was not included. And the percentage of league salary cap was used rather than the percentage of adjusted cap for each team.)