Flacco contract talks begin next week

[Tyrian]

JasonLaCanfora Jason La Canfora
Ravens set to open contract extension talks with Joe Flacco's agent, Joe Linta, at combine next week. Both sides aim for long-term deal

Interesting they've gone for it already.

[The Excellector]

This is the first legitimate 'Franchise QB' that the team has ever had. They have had decent quarterbacks for short term situations (Vinny Testaverde, Steve McNair). However, Joe Flacco represents the first quality long-term Quarterback investment in team history. They will not mess around with this.

[leachisabeast]

Would really love if they got a deal done with Rice too, would save some cap.

[wickedsolo]

That means that negotiations are either going really well with Rice or really poorly, haha.

They need to get Flacco done and get him extended for another 6-8 years.

[Terpsfan82]

They had better get Rice done. He IS the offense.

[Carey]

I think this means Rice will be franchised which means they wouldnt be able to use the tag on Grubbs to keep him for a year and he'll be gone.

[Carey]

That means that negotiations are either going really well with Rice or really poorly, haha. They need to get Flacco done and get him extended for another 6-8 years.

Lol, good point....in a perfect world you'd like to see those negotiations going well but my gut tells me Rice's reps are looking at the other huge deals and want something comparable or more....how sweet would it be if this wasnt the case and they go Flacco and Rice done before free agency even started!?

[wickedsolo]

Rice's agents are probably waiting for one of the other RB's to set the market.

Forte, Foster, and Lynch.

[madmikey]

They had better get Rice done. He IS the offense.

Second contracts with RBs are tricky since you never know how long the RB will last. Rice has been very resilient so far, but with RBs the wheels can fall off quickly. Rice will likely want a longer-term deal, but the Ravens likely won't want to commit to more than 3-4 years.

[Carey]

Rice's agents are probably waiting for one of the other RB's to set the market.

Forte, Foster, and Lynch.

Unfortunately i think in his agents eyes CJ2K probably already set their market

[pslholder96]

This is very telling. It's clear they want to get Joe locked up early because the earlier the better. It would be more expensive for the Ravens if Joe were to play even better in a contract year and it's obvious the Ravens want to avoid that.
I don't think it says anything about negotiations with Ray Rice though. Something tells me they will franchise him and let Grubbs test the market.

[Corey]

I think this means they are getting closer with Rice. It is not in the Ravens best interest to be negotiating these contracts at the same time.