Flacco's Future

[Culex]

The Giants would be a good fit

[GOTA]

Flacco gets benched during the bye week and is released in the offseason. He may do the Jay Cutler thing and sign on for 1 year for a situation that he likes or he retires. I don't see Joe going into a situation where he is the backup

[BcRaven]

Unfortunately, I think you're right and Flacco's opportunities are behind him.(a) 5 season's of consistently mediocre play can't be dismissed. And(b) his 5 years before that weren't a stand-out by any means either. That's a long time and a pretty extensive body of work to make an evaluation. I've been one of his bigger defenders, but the FO, and the defense IMHO wasted the prime of his career. We'll never know how good he could have been. I predict Jackson will be the started before the year is over.

Donny, I fully agree with (a), but let's not dismiss (b) the excitement and confidence we had from 2008 through 2012. Perhaps Joe's stats didn't stand-out, but he made enough plays to get us to 5 straight playoffs, was one play from the 2011 Super Bowl, and led us to the 2012 Championship.
IMO LJ won't start until 2019. The Ravens have to prepare him for the NFL grind, and since we have the 5th year option, Flacco would have to totally fall on his face to have LJ start this upcoming season. I just don't see that... Bc

[Trackmaster]

Its hard to say. Flacco's salary balloons after 2018, and his cap hits will be very large. He's never really played anywhere close to a $20M QB in his career, so its hard to imagine that he's going to flip a switch this year. But the only thing that he has going for him is that he'll have improved weapons this year. If the camp were in the "Flacco is great, but just never has any weapons" camp are right, then he could be poised for a break-out season. I think that as long as he wins games and moves the ball, LJ will stay on the sidelines, other then for gadget play options.

[JimZipCode]

IMO LJ won't start until 2019. The Ravens have to prepare him for the NFL grind, and since we have the 5th year option, Flacco would have to totally fall on his face to have LJ start this upcoming season. I just don't see that.

Agreed.

Also I think Joe is primed to have his best season in years. Health the biggest factor; also stability from a capable offensive coaching staff. Remember, the last time Joe entered a season coming off a fully healthy offseason, our OC was Marc Trestman. Also a solid capable receiving corps; solid O-line; and an inventive running game with good backs. And we should probably not minimize the contribution from James Urban. Joe has more factors pointing "up" for him, both big and small, than he's had in a long time. I don't see him getting benched at any point this year.

Frankly I think we have a very good team this year. Our best since 2012.

[ClericBlackDave]

So the first thing is, for Flacco to get traded i think it takes the Ravens holding onto him AND a Sam Bradford situation where a team loses a starter and is willing to pony up. Honestly, I could even see the scenario happening this year, depending on what happens (I know there are cap implications, but however the Browns Osweiller trade worked shows the leagues willingness recently to put up with some creativity in terms of cap relief)


But really, baring something spectacular, Flacco is starting this season until he's injured. He won a superbowl for us - he'l be given the rope this year to hang himself with.


Like many on this thread, I actually expect Flacco to do well with this new cast of targets. I actually hope they don't get TOO distracted with over-scheming for Lamar this year. That would be a mistake. Flacco delivered the ball on target-ish enough for us to have a playoff berth last year. Maclin was terrible, Wallace had dropsies as the worse possible times, Perriman was a tip ball up for INT machine, and Moore was inconsistent at best. And they were all, at points, injured. We can't get worse than that.


If Flacco does well with this cast of characters and we have a playoff berth and a win, I don't see a chance in hell the Ravens part with him without significant trade compensation. Even if Lamar is ready and BETTER than Flacco, the team will, and would be wise to, hang on to Flacco as your starter and hold Lamar back for ONE more year, and get someone to pony up. Or even if no-one ponnies up, you give Flacco one more run in 2019. It all makes too much sense.


The "easy" move on from Flacco scenarios this year are that he sucks / we miss the playoffs. If he plays well, we'll have a QB situation on our hands, but a good one. Yeah it was annoying for GB to deal with Favre Rodgers drama, but GASP - that also meant they transitions from Favre to Rodgers pretty seamlessly. I'll take that problem. Particularly if we got a day 1 or day 2 pick or two out of Flacco.

[BcRaven]

Also I think Joe is primed to have his best season in years. Health the biggest factor; also stability from a capable offensive coaching staff. Remember, the last time Joe entered a season coming off a fully healthy offseason, our OC was Marc Trestman. Also a solid capable receiving corps; solid O-line; and an inventive running game with good backs. And we should probably not minimize the contribution from James Urban. Joe has more factors pointing "up" for him, both big and small, than he's had in a long time. I don't see him getting benched at any point this year.

Frankly I think we have a very good team this year. Our best since 2012.

I'll go along with your thinking and add that if the Ravens offense somewhat thrives (and we make the 2018 playoffs), the Ravens will have a (pleasant) dilemma in 2019... Bc

[HbgPARavenfan]

Flacco going to ball out and win us another Superbowl and get into the HOF

[JimZipCode]

Flacco going to ball out and win us another Superbowl and get into the HOF

Honestly, that would be awesome.

And then we seamlessly transition to the LJ Era 8.

[crabcakes]

Flacco will play well this year, and take ravens deep into playoffs. IMO it will all depend on how well Jackson is progressing if Flacco is here in 2019. As of right now I see it 50/50 for flacco to be the starter in 2019. For sake of the excercise, I say he stays and plays, then signs with NWE in 2020 and becomes their bridge QB until they find their next Franchise QB. O and Flacco will take NWE to a deep playoff run as well!

[trailhiker85]

Flacco going to ball out and win us another Superbowl and get into the HOF

You forgot the sarcasm emoticon.

[BcRaven]

Flacco going to ball out and win us another Superbowl and get into the HOF

Hall of Fair (?)... Bc