USA Today Sports writer Steven Ruiz listed Joe Flacco as the most overpaid player in the NFL right now. Do you agree with this?
This season, Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco comes in with a $24.5 million cap hit against the Ravens salary cap. He will be the highest paid quarterback this season, which has a lot of people asking, is he overpaid?
USA Today Sports writer Steven Ruiz wrote his “Top 15 list of NFL players that are tremendously overpaid” and Flacco was on the list at #1.
"It’s been four years since Flacco signed his mega deal after leading the Ravens to a Super Bowl, and he’s given Baltimore one above-average season over that time. The front office hasn’t given him a whole lot of support, but quarterbacks making that much money are supposed to elevate the players around them. Flacco clearly hasn’t."
On this list Flacco beat out players like Clay Matthews, Brock Osweiler, Kirk Cousins and Colby Fleener.
Related Story: A look at regular season Joe Flacco vs. playoff Joe Flacco
We took to Twitter to ask others if they thought Flacco deserved to be #1 on the list.
Steven Ruiz of @usatodaysports says Joe Flacco is the most overpaid player in the NFL. Do you agree wth this?
— Ebony Bird (@Ebony_Bird) July 7, 2017
He’s not #1
From an unbiased standpoint, I think Joe Flacco is worthy to be on the list but he shouldn’t be at #1. I’ll be one of the first to say that he hasn’t played up to his contract but the Ravens gave him the money when they had to.
As far as quarterbacks go, I’m surprised Carson Palmer isn’t on the list. His cap hit is only about $400,000 less than Flacco’s this season. He’s 37 years old with two ACL tears in his career and the Cardinals are coming off of a 6-8-1 season. Flacco is 32 and arguably has the most offensive weapons in his career this season.
After winning the Super Bowl in 2013, the Ravens really didn’t have a choice but to pay Joe Flacco. It was the peak of the quarterback market. Guys like Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers were getting paid $100 million long-term contracts. Flacco had just come off a playoff run where he threw 11 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. If you are Ozzie Newsome and the front office you can’t let him walk. Some teams spend years trying to find consistency at quarterback and the Ravens weren’t going to let that go.
Of course players are going to want the big contracts, but Flacco has worked with the Ravens to make sure he’s here for the long run. Just last year he restructured his contract so the team could save room cap space. Not all players are willing to do that.
The Bottom Line
There’s definitely more we need to see from Flacco if he wants to justify the money the Ravens are giving him. However, let’s not go as far to say he’s the most overpaid player in the NFL. I don’t think I can say that just yet.
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What do you think? Does Flacco deserve to be at #1? Let us know in the comments below.