Joe Flacco to the Mile High City

By: Adamo Marinelli

February 13th, 2019

    This morning, the Baltimore Ravens agreed to send Joe Flacco to the Denver Broncos for a fourth-round pick in the 2019 draft. The trade cannot be processed until the start of free agency on March 13th.  About a year ago, I talked about Case Keenum coming to play QB in Denver. Now it’s Joe Flacco’s turn to be evaluated.

    This is another head-scratching move made by John Elway, that has its advantages and disadvantages, but a move that might benefit the Broncos going forward.

    One would think one of the best quarterbacks of all time would be good at evaluating quarterbacks, but aside from Peyton Manning and maybe Brock Osweiler, all of Elway’s other moves (excluding Flacco) have not worked so well. Trevor Siemian was okay, Paxton Lynch was a bust, Chad Kelly was a bust and Case Keenum was decent at best. We’ll see how Flacco fares in Denver.

    Joe Flacco had a pretty good season with the Ravens before his starting job was taken by Lamar Jackson. In nine games before rookie, Lamar Jackson took over the starting job, he had 2,465 yards, 12 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 4-5 record. Not great but not terrible.

    Flacco’s performance each season has considerably gone down since his 2012 Super Bowl win in which he was named Super Bowl MVP, but the 34-year-old is looking to prove that he can still play as a starting QB in the NFL.

    Flacco is not that much of an upgrade over Keenum but he is slightly better than Keenum. Also, this trade won’t be considered as very successful unless Flacco plays well with a new change of scenery, in Denver, which he likely will. If he does, the Broncos will keep him more than one season. If not, they will probably move on from him too and get rid of his contract.

    Surely, Flacco’s deal will affect current QB Case Keenum. Keenum has a base salary cap of $21 million for the 2019 season. Keenum is expected to be traded by Denver starting on March 13th, once Flacco officially comes to Denver, but they can save $11 million by releasing Keenum. However, this comes with $10 million of ‘dead money’. Flacco will be paid a base salary of $18.5 million in 2019, but none of it is guaranteed because the Ravens absorbed $16 million of ‘dead money’. If the Broncos restructure his contract, it could save them even more.

    This move would have made more sense in 2014 when Flacco had his best statistical year under offensive coordinator Gary Kubiak with just under 4,000 yards and 27 touchdowns compared to only 12 interceptions. But Flacco will join the Broncos’ offence run by Rich Scangarello and he will fit very nicely into the Broncos’ offensive scheme and playbook. His play has significantly decreased over the years, but Denver’s emphasis on defence and the run game should balance everything out. Flacco will play fine next year, after all, he has significant weapons around him when Sanders, Lindsay, the offensive linemen and everyone else gets healthy again before the start of next season.

    Like Case Keenum, Joe Flacco will likely be a bridge quarterback until the Broncos draft a new, young and athletic quarterback either in this year’s draft or in 2020’s draft, regardless of how good or bad he plays next season.

    Finally, it appears Flacco knows how to win in Denver already with that miraculous hail mary pass to Jacoby Jones to beat Denver on the road in the 2012 divisional round game, which propelled the Ravens to a Super Bowl 47 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. So he shouldn’t have a problem winning ball games for the Broncos next season.