The Joe Flacco trade: 3 big things for the Baltimore Ravens
3. Why the Broncos are betting on Flacco:
The Broncos signed Case Keenum to a fairly costly two year deal last offseason and now they’ve traded for Flacco. This isn’t the 2012 edition of Flacco, who infamously backed the truck up for a big pay day. This is Flacco after being replaced by a rookie quarterback. This is the Flacco who never lived up to his big contract. Why are the Broncos doing this? Let’s answer that question.
The Broncos are betting that with a good defense and a good running game around him, Flacco can give them a shot to be a playoff team. The Broncos are constructed much like the Ravens were from 2008-2012 where Flacco had the Ravens in the playoffs every year. Denver is making a bet that the good Flacco never went away. The Ravens shuffled through offensive coordinators, took away away his favorite targets and asked Flacco pass the ball an awful lot. Every year Flacco had built in excuses. John Elway isn’t being ridiculous to think that a healthy Flacco in a good situation could be exactly what the Broncos need.
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Flacco was off to a red hot start in the 2018 season and his arm is a cannon while Case Keenum’s is an old shotgun at best. The Broncos needed to get better at the quarterback position and they turned to a player who once out-dueled them and Peyton Manning in the postseason. Elway likely knows that Flacco isn’t a long-term solution and that this could go either way. That being said, there are legitimate reasons for the Broncos desire to employ Flacco. A change of scenery may be exactly what Flacco needs to get back on track.