Joe Flacco vs. Nick Foles: Who is the more coveted available QB?
The Baltimore Ravens want to trade Joe Flacco. Nick Foles may be available as a free agent. Which Super Bowl MVP is the more coveted quarterback acquisition?
Joe Flacco has been the Baltimore Ravens quarterback for almost 11 full seasons. Lamar Jackson is taking his place as the Ravens franchise quarterback. The Ravens are now ready to part ways with Flacco and trading him is the ultimate goal. Quality quarterbacks almost never become available. While Flacco and Foles may not be the most exciting pieces to build around, they have both led a team to the Super Bowl championship. The Ravens have to hope that the option of a team getting Foles doesn’t get in the way of a trade. Which player should a quarterback needy team go for?
The Case for Joe Flacco:
Joe Flacco has done a lot of good things in the NFL, and some of them even happened in the 2018 season. Flacco isn’t far removed from a 363 yard and two touchdown performance in a win over the Steelers. That happened in week four, he can clearly still play the position. Flacco may have never been truly great but he is capable of great moments. His Super Bowl run in 2012 was masterful and he’s always been capable of these kinds of performances. He isn’t consistently great but he’s usually solid. Flacco is a quarterback whose low moments are truly putrid, his average performance is solid and his best moments are fit for the stuff of legends. If you can handle one or two clunkers of a game per season, Flacco is a quarterback you can win with.
Flacco is more of a sure thing. Foles found a magic carpet ride and revived his career. He’s never been successful as the starter for an entire season. He’s thrown just over 11,000 yards in his career. Flacco was a long time starter who has over 38,000 career passing yards. Flacco is not flashy but he averages about 3,500 yards, 20 touchdowns and about 12 interceptions per year. A team like the Jaguars that has some of the other pieces to the puzzle will take that kind of production.
Flacco had his one good run, but the rest of his career wasn’t horrible. In a world that only really appreciates the Pat Mahomes’s and Tom Brady’s of the world, Flacco wasn’t going to see a lot of the love. Flacco had excuses around him most of his career. Earlier this season he proved that when he is healthy and has a couple weapons around him, he can be productive. When Flacco was replaced he was hurt and on a slump, but he was on pace for one of his better years. Flacco is not a bad quarterback, he just isn’t great. It was time for the Ravens to move on, but that doesn’t mean Flacco doesn’t have value.