Does the Joe Flacco trade inspire a lot of confidence? Perhaps not, but here are five reasons the trade might not suck for the Denver Broncos.
Having a hard time with the idea of Joe Flacco being the new starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos?
I know, I know…Me too. You can hear some of my gripes on our good friend Cody Roark’s Locked on Broncos podcast.
All the numbers seem to indicate Flacco is not a viable solution for a team, despite what he’s done in the (increasingly distant) past. Flacco’s last great season was in 2014, which incidentally was the last time the Broncos had strong quarterback play.
John Elway, Vic Fangio, and Rich Scangarello must be getting ready to party like it’s 2012 with Flacco, a guy who beat Fangio’s defense pretty good in Super Bowl 42 that year (yeah, we all remember that right?).
Fangio’s 49ers defense ranked second in the NFL in points allowed that season, and Flacco’s Ravens laid 34 on him in the Super Bowl. That memory probably stands out for the Broncos’ new head coach.
Though that version of Flacco may not be coming to Denver, there could be some reasons to be optimistic about the move despite my initial reaction, which was one of pure sadness.
The Broncos obviously got together and made a very quick decision to get this deal done, sending the Ravens a pretty high fourth-round pick to get Flacco in the building.
Ultimately, there’s very little risk in giving up a fourth-rounder for a possible starting solution at quarterback, but even that aspect of this move will be scrutinized.
The Broncos clearly believe the 34-year old Flacco has something left to offer. They had better believe he can help them win a bunch of games if he stays healthy, and they had better have a plan in place if it doesn’t work out.
Even though my initial reaction — like many of you — was overwhelmingly negative to this move, I am willing to be open-minded about it as opposed to being miserable for the next 12 months. Here are five reasons this trade for the Broncos might not suck after all.
1. Flacco has a very good playoff history
Let’s start by talking about what Flacco does — or in this case, has done — on the football field.
This is a guy with a 10-5 all-time record in the postseason, including a Super Bowl victory. Seven of those 10 playoff wins were on the road. Only two of them came in Baltimore.
Even as a hapless young rookie in 2008, Flacco wasn’t so lost that the Ravens couldn’t compete in the postseason. In his rookie season, the Ravens won two playoff games.
As a matter of fact, in all six of Flacco’s postseason appearances, he’s never been taken out in the first game his team played in.
Flacco has never struck me as a top flight quarterback in the NFL, but rather the type of player who can excel in a favorable situation. He has been able to, at times, elevate the Ravens, but for the most part, he’s a guy who keeps things moving and executes the offense.
Especially compared to five or six years ago, there’s probably nothing overly spectacular about Flacco’s play, which is why the Ravens drafted the ultra-spectacular talent Lamar Jackson at the end of the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
Flacco’s playoff history gives him locker room credibility.
2. I mean, he is a Super Bowl MVP
Let’s not throw this fact aside. Despite my reservations about Flacco coming in, the guy did win a Super Bowl, beating the Broncos in a double-overtime road playoff game (against Peyton Manning) to get there.
As a matter of fact, in the 2012 postseason, Flacco and the Ravens took out hotshot rookie Andrew Luck and the Colts on the road, Peyton Manning and the Broncos on the road, Tom Brady and the New England Patriots on the road, and then they went into Super Bowl 42 and knocked out Vic Fangio’s stellar defense.
Flacco’s 2012 postseason is about as impressive as any player can claim.
He threw 11 touchdowns and no interceptions in that particular postseason, including a three-touchdown performance in the Super Bowl.
The duo of Flacco and Von Miller gives the Broncos the only pair of Super Bowl MVPs on offense and defense on the same roster in the NFL right now.
What will that ultimately mean? I’m not sure, but it’s cool to be able to claim.
3. His overall skillset is better than Case Keenum’s
One of the things I was adamant about prior to the Broncos making the trade for Flacco was that he was not an upgrade over Case Keenum.
Statistically speaking, that remains a factual statement.
Statistically, Flacco has been marginally — if at all — more impactful than Keenum since the start of the 2015 season.
With that being said, Flacco has a superior arm and is a much better fit schematically for an offense that wants to push the ball through the air to all levels of the field. Flacco played the best football of his NFL career in 2014 when Gary Kubiak was calling plays for the Baltimore Ravens.
Obviously Rich Scangarello is coming from the Kubiak/Shanahan coaching tree and runs a similar type of offense.
Flacco’s stronger arm and playoff pedigree likely played a huge role in the Broncos making this trade, and those are both reasons to think this deal doesn’t suck so bad.
4. The contract is easy to get out of
One of the main reasons this trade doesn’t suck? The Broncos can get out of Flacco’s contract at any point in time with no dead money.
That isn’t often the case, if ever.
Very rarely can you acquire a quarterback in the NFL for the price of a day three draft pick with a Super Bowl MVP on their résumé and not a penny of dead money in case things don’t work out.
If you can, you’re usually not getting those guys with three years left on their contract.
Flacco has three years left on his deal, and would cost roughly the price of an average to above average quarterback in today’s NFL. If things work out, that’s a price the Broncos would happily pay.
If it’s clear the team needs to move on after the 2019 season, they can do so having taken a similar approach to that of the Cleveland Browns last year, who traded a very high third-round pick for Tyrod Taylor, who was only part of a couple of games this season before they put Baker Mayfield in.
The Broncos will pay Flacco as this thing goes, and won’t owe him any money down the road if things don’t go well and they want to move on.
5. Who knows? It just might work
This move was not made in an impulsive way by just John Elway. This move was made in combination with Vic Fangio — who knows Flacco from his days on staff with the Ravens back in 2008-09j — as well as Rich Scangarello, who was brought in not only to improve the offense but help find the best guy to run it.
Elway will get plenty of flak if this move doesn’t work, but it’s a relatively low-risk move in a draft class many felt to be weak at quarterback (I don’t necessarily share that opinion) with an even better class coming in 2020 (I do share that opinion).
Fangio still has ties to the Ravens and the Harbaugh brothers — John and Jim — who he has worked for within the last decade.
He coached with the Ravens when Flacco was breaking into the league, and Flacco beat him on the game’s biggest stage in the Super Bowl.
Scangarello’s offense — or at least one iteration of it — has proven to be the best fit for Flacco’s skill set in the past. Perhaps he can find that success again.
No matter what level of pessimism you have about this move, there is always a chance something like this could work. This is not like the Bears signing Mike Glennon before drafting Mitchell Trubisky. This player has had legitimate success in the NFL and perhaps a change of scenery will do him wonders.
I’m still not fully convinced it could work, but the more I think about it the more I start to think, wow, this might not suck.