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Joe Flacco

AFC Notes: Bengals, Flacco, Boldin, Landry

August 8th, 2017 at 4:50pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

PFR sends best wishes to Bengals head coach Marvin Lewis, who “will be taking time away from the team to focus on a minor health issue,” according to a club announcement. Specifically, Lewis is dealing with a Baker’s Cyst on his ankle, but the initial fear was that he had a blood clot, per Stacey Dales of NFL Network (Twitter link). The Bengals expect Lewis to return sometime this week, fortunately, and special teams coordinator Darrin Simmons will hold the reins as long as he’s out.

More from the AFC:

  • There’s no comeback date for Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, who’s dealing with a back injury, but a second opinion last week yielded news that was “positive for a slow return,” a league source told ESPN’s Dan Graziano (via Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com). The Ravens can afford to be patient with Flacco because he’s a 10-year veteran who has a full understanding of their offense, noted head coach John Harbaugh. “Every play we’ve run, he’s run before numerous times,” Harbaugh said.
  • The Bills’ signing of Anquan Boldin could help put them in position to land a third-round compensatory pick next offseason, writes Mike Rodak of ESPN.com. Because the Bills signed seven free agents and lost five prior to May 9, the cutoff date for the compensatory formula, they aren’t poised to receive a pick at the moment. But Boldin may make one of those signings, wideout Andre Holmes, expendable, and Rodak lists fellow FA additions Vlad Ducasse (guard) and Ryan Davis (defensive end) as release candidates. Parting with all three would give the Bills more losses than signings (five to four), thus netting them a valuable pick for 2018.
  • This week, the girlfriend of Dolphins wide receiver Jarvis Landry issued a statement regarding the allegations that were raised against him earlier this year (Twitter link via Ian Rapoport of NFL.com). “In March of 2017 the father of my child and I had a vocal disagreement that resulted in someone calling 911. I, myself did not call the police. When the police arrived they determined that there was no cause for any arrests nor was there any concern for my physical well-being. There were no arrests made, there were no criminal charges, I was not in any way physically harmed Yes, we are going through a civil family court case and emotions are high, but I would like to make it very clear that Jarvis would never, ever do anything to harm me or anyone else. Jarvis and I are happily raising our beautiful daughter and I would like to make a plea to the media that they refrain from spreading this completely false story.”

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Harbaugh: No Definitive Date For Joe Flacco Return

August 6th, 2017 at 9:37am CST by Rory Parks

Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said yesterday there is no definitive date for Joe Flacco to return to the field, as Jamison Hensley of ESPN.com writes. Flacco, of course, has been dealing with a back injury, and we heard at the end of July that he was preparing to miss three to six weeks, though more optimistic reports had him returning within one week.

Joe Flacco

Harbaugh said, “We know he’s getting better every single day. Obviously, we have a plan for him, football-wise, when he gets back. But we haven’t been told when yet.”

Harbaugh’s statement should not be surprising in light of Baltimore’s highly-publicized dalliance with free agent quarterback Colin Kaepernick. If the Ravens were truly convinced that Flacco would only be out a short period of time, it is unlikely they would be entertaining the notion of signing Kaepernick as seriously they have, as Kaepernick would not compete with a healthy Flacco for the team’s starting job.

The Ravens have been ravaged by injury in the early stages of training camp, and while they may yet have enough talent to make a playoff push with the talent they currently have at their disposal, they need Flacco to be 100% to have a real chance at being competitive in 2017.

In his only public comments about the injury, which he made on July 28, Flacco said he was unsure of when he would return to practice. He said, “It is just one of those things where you have to be patient and not let your competitive nature get the best of you. I am talking about everybody — myself and, really, everybody.”

Ravens Coach, GM Pushing For Kaepernick?

August 2nd, 2017 at 12:34pm CST by Zachary Links

Both Ravens head coach John Harbaugh and GM Ozzie Newsome support the idea of signing quarterback Colin Kaepernick, sources tell Dianna Marie Russini of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Russini hears they have met resistance from owner Steve Bisciotti, but Newsome issued a statement on Wednesday to try and counter those claims:Colin Kaepernick (vertical)

“We are going through a process, and we have not made a decision. Steve Bisciotti has not told us we cannot sign Colin Kaepernick, nor has he blocked the move. Whoever is making those claims is wrong,” the unusual statement read.

Recently, Bisciotti and team president Dick Cass publicly acknowledged their trepidation in signing Kaepernick, with Bisciotti adding that he wasn’t sure the QB would help the team “win games.” The team’s coach and GM apparently feel that Kaepernick can be a difference maker.

Recently, some of the team’s locker room leaders also voiced their support for adding Kaepernick.

“Hell yeah, if he’s going to help us win,” linebacker Terrell Suggs said. “We have no issues. Not in the locker room. Hell yeah, we want him.”

The Ravens are taking a hard look at their backup quarterback situation as Joe Flacco deals with a back injury and Ryan Mallett struggles in practice. There is some good news on that front, however. A source with knowledge of the situation tells Mike Florio of PFT that he is feeling better, with the “arrow [pointing] up.”

Photo via Pro Football Rumors on Instagram.

Latest On Ravens, Colin Kaepernick

July 28th, 2017 at 11:06am CST by Dallas Robinson

The Ravens signed former Arena League quarterback David Olson earlier today, but that won’t necessarily prevent them from adding free agent Colin Kaepernick, head coach John Harbaugh told reporters, including Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter link).NFL: San Diego Chargers at San Francisco 49ers

Staring quarterback Joe Flacco is dealing with a back injury, and although a worst-case scenario clouds his Week 1 status, Harbaugh doesn’t sound worried about Flacco’s condition. “Joe is day to day, so do we really need to make that move or not?” Harbaugh said of signing Kaepernick, per Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter link). Baltimore has been in contact with Kaepernick, but the club is “weighing need and fit,” tweets Zrebiec.

In addition to Flacco and Olson, the Ravens currently have two other quarterbacks on their roster: Ryan Mallett and Dustin Vaughan. Mallett has struggled through eight career starts as a member of the Patriots, Texans, and Ravens, while Vaughan, a 2014 undrafted free agent, has never appeared in an NFL game.

Joe Flacco Dealing With Back Injury

July 26th, 2017 at 8:14pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is preparing to sit out three to six weeks with a disc issue in his back, report Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (Twitter link). A worst-case scenario could put Flacco’s status for the Ravens’ Sept. 10 season opener in jeopardy, but the team only expects him to miss a week, tweets ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Joe Flacco

If Flacco’s injury proves to be serious, the Ravens may choose to scour the free agent and trade markets for available quarterbacks. There are, of course, much-discussed unsigned QBs in Colin Kaepernick and Robert Griffin III. Those two offer vastly different skill sets than Flacco and backup Ryan Mallett, but it may be worth noting in Kaepernick’s case that he played under Jim Harbaugh, the brother of Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, in San Francisco. Kaepernick is also familiar with senior offensive assistant Greg Roman, who was once the 49ers’ O-coordinator.

Other available options include Christian Ponder, Shaun Hill and Zach Mettenberger, and anyone the Ravens bring in would initially join Dustin Vaughan behind Mallett. The team re-signed Mallett to a one-year, $2MM deal in March. Mallett hasn’t been effective since debuting with the Patriots in 2012, though, which could give a newcomer a chance to unseat him and become Baltimore’s top backup.

Flacco, meanwhile, is the unquestioned No. 1 with the Ravens, but the 32-year-old has taken steps backward since their latest playoff campaign in 2014. The onetime Super Bowl champion struggled over 10 games in 2015 and then succumbed to a torn ACL that November. While Flacco returned last year to start all of Baltimore’s games, he posted pedestrian numbers for an 8-8 team.

AFC North Notes: Flacco, Eifert, Browns

October 21st, 2016 at 8:37pm CST by Zachary Links

The Ravens announced that quarterback Joe Flacco was back at practice today. It’s a positive step forward for the QB after he was diagnosed with irritation in the joint of his throwing shoulder and missed practice earlier in the week. Still, it’s not clear whether he will play on Sunday against the Jets. If he can’t go, Ryan Mallett will get the start and the Ravens will likely look to sign another QB to back him up. David Fales, currently on Baltimore’s practice squad, would be the obvious candidate.

Here’s more from the AFC North:

  • Bengals coach Marvin Lewis says that the team will soon determine whether tight end Tyler Eifert will be make his 2016 debut on Sunday, as Geoff Hobson of Bengals.com writes. Lewis doesn’t have a timetable on Eifert, but he says that it will not be a game-time decision. Eifert, of course, was scheduled to return from ankle surgery earlier this month but suffered a setback when he hurt his back.
  • The Browns worked out offensive tackle Darrion Weems on Friday, Aaron Wilson of the Houston Chronicle tweets. Weems, 28, had played on roughly a third of Denver’s offensive snaps this season before being waived last week, but graded as one of the worst interior lineman in the league, according to Pro Football Focus.
  • Given the health issues on their roster, the Ravens should be expected to make at least one transaction before Sunday’s game against the Jets, argues Jeff Zriebec of the Baltimore Sun (Twitter links). Running back Lorenzo Taliaferro is one option to be promoted to the active roster thanks to his special teams prowess, per Zriebec, while corners Asa Jackson and Robertson Daniel also stand a chance to be signed since the Ravens are dealing injuries to their defensive backfield.

AFC Notes: Flacco, Incognito, Jets, Bengals

October 19th, 2016 at 9:45pm CST by Connor J. Byrne

Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco has irritation in the joint of his throwing shoulder and was withheld from practice Wednesday to try to improve the situation, according to Ed Werder of ESPN.com (on Twitter). It’s not immediately clear whether Flacco will be ready to play against the Jets on Sunday, though head coach John Harbaugh believes he has a “legitimate chance” (via Marc Sessler of NFL.com). If Flacco can’t go, Baltimore will probably look to add a quarterback to place behind Ryan Mallett. The Ravens don’t have any QBs on their practice squad.

Here’s more from the AFC:

  • With the Bills’ Richie Incognito preparing to face his former team, the Dolphins, this week, the guard revisited the 2013 Bullygate scandal in Miami that led to a three-month suspension and left him unemployed for a year and a half.  “I’m still searching for the lesson in all of it,” Incognito told Omar Kelly of the Sun Sentinel. League investigator Ted Wells concluded Incognito subjected then-teammate Jonathan Martin to “a pattern of harassment” that included racial slurs. “Jonathan and I were close friends. I cared about him,” Incognito said of Martin. “If anybody was there for Jonathan it was me.” Martin left the Dolphins amid the scandal in 2013 and spent parts of the next two seasons with the 49ers and Panthers. He’s now retired. Incognito has since held his own in Buffalo, which signed him to a one-year contract in February 2015. He went to his second Pro Bowl last season and subsequently re-signed with the Bills on a three-year, $15.75MM deal with $5.4MM in guarantees. “I can sleep good at night knowing what happened and what my actions were. I’m not saying I was a saint. But I sleep well at night knowing what I did,” added Incognito, who maintains that Martin and his camp concocted a false narrative.
  • The Jets benched quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick in favor of Geno Smith on Wednesday, but Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News isn’t exactly convinced the move will energize the 1-5 team. Restarting the Smith era is “destined to fail,” writes Mehta, whose reasons include the 26-year-old’s poor on-field production since entering and the lack of maturity he has shown in his four NFL seasons. Mehta expects Smith to quickly flame out in his latest audition, thereby paving the way for second-year man Bryce Petty to take the reins under center.
  • Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert returned to practice Wednesday for the first time since suffering a back injury Oct. 3, according to Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer. Thanks to both his back issue and offseason ankle surgery, the 2015 Pro Bowler hasn’t yet debuted this year. That could change Sunday against the Browns, per Dehner, who notes that Eifert was merely a limited participant Wednesday and will need to partake in a full practice before rejoining the Bengals’ lineup. The Bengals have gone a disappointing 2-4 this year without Eifert, who’s coming off an outstanding season. With 52 receptions, 615 yards and 13 touchdowns, the ex-Notre Dame star logged career highs across the board last year.
  • The Patriots worked out receiver Dres Anderson and linebacker Trevor Reilly on Wednesday, tweets Doug Kyed of NESN. Anderson went undrafted from Utah last year and spent some time with the 49ers, though he didn’t see any regular-season action. Reilly suited up 29 times and made 10 tackles with the Jets over the previous two seasons.

Zach Links contributed to this post.

Quarterback Notes: Flacco, Brees, Manning

March 5th, 2016 at 12:32pm CST by Ben Levine

Despite what the Ravens may be saying, Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio is convinced that Joe Flacco‘s new contract is simply about saving money. The team’s website published an article earlier this week stating that the extension was about winning, not money.

“We did not do a deal to gain cap room,” Newsome had said (via Florio). “We did a deal so Joe Flacco could be on this football team for the next six years.”

However, the quarterback basically admitted that the new contract was intended to create more cap flexibility.

“We’ve got a bunch of good players and we’ve got a great foundation already but with the way the deal was before I mean it might not have been this year but at some point there was gonna be a strain on what we could do and what kind of guys we could bring in,” Flacco said on PFT Live. “You don’t wanna see any of the guys on your team have to be let go because of some issue with the cap and I wanted to play here. I wanted to play here, I want to play here, continue to play here for a long time.”

Let’s check out some other notes regarding several of the league’s top signal callers…

  • Considering the extra flexibility, Flacco would like to see the Ravens bring in some reinforcement on the offensive line. When appearing on PFT Live, the quarterback also seemed to hint that he’d prefer the team re-sign Kelechi Osemele. “The one thing is I would say we need to get our O-line solidified, see who’s going to be there for sure,” Flacco said (via Michael David Smith of ProFootballTalk.com). “We’ve got a couple guys, at least one guy who’s out in the open there, whether we’re going to get a contract done with him or not. So once we get those guys nailed down and see who they’re going to be, I think that’s the biggest part of a championship, as far as the offensive side of the ball.”
  • Drew Brees‘ 2016 cap number will balloon to $30MM in the next several days, and Florio wonders if the 37-year-old will break the recent monetary records set by Flacco. A new deal may benefit each side, especially since the Saints will owe the quarterback $43.2MM if they tag him in 2017.
  • Even if Brock Osweiler ends up leaving Denver, Mike Klis of 9 News can’t envision the Broncos bringing back Peyton Manning. Despite a successful four years with the franchise, the writer is convinced that it’s time to begin the “post-Manning era.”

Ravens Sign Joe Flacco To Contract Extension

March 2nd, 2016 at 9:07pm CST by Luke Adams

9:07pm: Albert Breer of NFL.com tweets the yearly breakdown of the contract: in addition to the $40MM signing bonus, Flacco will earn base salaries of $4MM, $6MM, $12MM, $18.5MM, $20.25MM, and $24.25MM.

12:05pm: Flacco gets $66.4MM in new money on his three-year extension, according to La Canfora, who notes (via Twitter) that the $22.1MM+ new-money average is a record. For his entire contract, the Ravens quarterback will average just under $21MM per year, says La Canfora, adding (via Twitter) that Flacco’s cap hits will be reduced to about $22.5MM in 2016 and $24MM in 2017.

ESPN’s Adam Caplan reports that $44MM of Flacco’s new deal is fully guaranteed, including the $40MM signing bonus and his $4MM base salary for 2016.

10:47am: Flacco has officially signed his three-year extension, the Ravens announced (via Twitter).

10:27am: With the Ravens set to hold a press conference at 2:00pm eastern today to announce Flacco’s new deal, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets that the new contract features a $40MM signing bonus, which would be the largest in NFL history, as Joel Corry of CBSSports.com tweets. Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com adds (via Twitter) that the extension will free up about $6MM in cap space for Baltimore in 2016, and a total of about $13MM for the next two years.

9:55am: The Ravens and quarterback Joe Flacco have agreed to terms on a new contract, a source tells Pro Football Talk (Twitter link). According to Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (via Twitter), the agreement will add three more years to Flacco’s current contract, locking him up through the 2021 season.Joe Flacco

Flacco, who signed a six-year deal with the Ravens three years ago, had been projected for a cap hit of $28.55MM in 2016, and that number was set increase to $31MM+ in 2017. General manager Ozzie Newsome insisted at the start of the Ravens’ offseason – and recently reiterated – that the team has a plan to work around Flacco’s massive cap hit, but it always seemed likely that the two sides would rework the contract this offseason. The new deal should lessen Flacco’s impact on Baltimore’s 2016 cap.

Since winning the Super Bowl three years ago and signing his new mega-deal, Flacco has been up and down. After throwing more interceptions (22) than touchdowns (19) in 2013, he was excellent in 2014, setting new career highs in passing yards (3,986) and touchdowns (27).

In 2015, for the first time in his eight-year NFL career, the extremely durable signal-caller failed to start all 16 games for the Ravens, having sustained a torn ACL in November. In 10 games, Flacco completed a career-best 64.4% of his passes, but threw just 14 TDs to 12 INTs, and Baltimore was 3-7 in those games — it was the first time since Flacco became the Ravens’ starter that the team finished below .500.

Still, while his performance in recent years has perhaps not been elite, the terms of Flacco’s contract dictated that something had to give this offseason. Since he and agent Joe Linta held the majority of the leverage in negotiations with the Ravens, it will be interesting to see what kind of terms they secured on the new extension. Heading into the offseason, Flacco’s $20.1MM per-year salary ranked eighth among all quarterbacks, per Over The Cap. The new deal will likely elevate him back into the top five.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Joe Flacco, Ravens Moving Toward New Deal

February 29th, 2016 at 2:33pm CST by Luke Adams

Quarterback Joe Flacco and the Ravens continue to make progress on a new deal that will lower Flacco’s 2016 cap hit, according to multiple reports. Per Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun, no deal is expected to be completed today, but both sides remain confident that it will happen this week.Joe Flacco

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk and Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com (Twitter link) also report that an agreement between the two sides is expected soon. Florio suggests something will likely get done within the next two to four days, while La Canfora says it will happen no earlier than Wednesday. Each report indicates that the Ravens and agent Joe Linta are meeting again today now that the scouting combine has wrapped up.

Flacco, who signed a six-year deal with the Ravens three years ago, is currently projected for a cap hit of $28.55MM in 2016, and that number will increase to $31MM+ in 2017. General manager Ozzie Newsome insisted at the start of the Ravens’ offseason – and recently reiterated – that the team has a plan to work around Flacco’s massive cap hit, but it would obviously make things easier in Baltimore if the club can reduce that figure by $10MM or so.

To create significant cap savings on a new deal for Flacco without creating massive problems in future seasons, the Ravens will likely have to add two or three new years to the quarterback’s contract, extending it rather than simply restructuring it.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

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