Today morning, the Baltimore Ravens agreed in principle with the Denver Broncos to send former Super Bowl MVP quarterback Joe Flacco for a 4th round pick. today, we will take a look at the immediate winners and losers of this deal.
Winners
Baltimore Ravens: The Ravens front office should get a lot of credit for finding a suitor to dump Flacco off to. No matter what, the Ravens were going to get rid of Flacco, and they actually got a decent pick for him. They were able to give away Flaccos horrendous contract and do not have to pay that much in dead money.
Lamar Jackson: If it wasn't obvious before, it is now. Lamar Jackson is the starting quarterback of the Baltimore Ravens. Despite Flacco being cleared to play, the Ravens rolled with Jackson last year and it worked out. There will no longer be calls for a quarterback change to happen if Jackson struggles.
Winner and Loser at the same time - Joe Flacco
Honestly, is anybody surprised that Flacco could neither be here or there? It is all he has been for his entire career: Not good but not bad either. On the bright side, Flacco gets a starting gig instead of backing up Lamar Jackson. on the down side, he goes into a franchise that has not had a good quarterback since John Elway(and three years of Peyton Manning). In addition, the Broncos offensive line is terrible, which is a bad sign as Flacco has been battling a hip injury for the past few years.
Losers
John Elway: When this trade was announced, me, along with much of the football universe, thought, "What on Earth is John Elway trying to do?". Ever since he become president of football operations for Denver, Elway has made bad move after bad move. First, he drafted Brock Osweiler with a second round pick. He then traded up to take Paxton Lynch, only to have Lynch lose out a training camp battle with un-drafted Trevor Siemeian. Last year, he threw boatloads of money at unproven quarterback Case Keenum, who was mediocre at best this year. Now, he is giving up a 4th rounder for Flacco, who is practically the same player as Keenum. With all due respect to him, Flacco has had one good season in his career(the 2012 Super Bowl one). Now, he is just a slow, injury prone QB that has not eclipsed 4000 yards in past 6 years.
Case Keenum: Keenum is now surely going to either backup Flacco, or get cut. There are very few teams that need a quarterback, and none of them seem to want to employ a 30 year old veteran as their quarterback. It appears as if though the magical run with the Vikings last year was not to last. Keenum will likely continue as a journeyman backup quarterback.
Quarterbacks entering free agency: With Denver finding its quarterback, and prospects like Drew Lock, Dwayne Haskins, and Kyler Murray in the draft, the players expected to be released have an alarmingly low amount of destinations where they can play. Players like Teddy Bridgewater, Ryan Tannehill, and Tyrod Taylor will have some trouble finding a good landing spot.
Final Trade Grades
Broncos - C-
Ravens - B
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