I wanted to get a discussion going about Joe Flacco's 6 year, $120.6 million contract. The reason this interests me is that is being paid like an elite quarterback which I don't believe he is.
Firstly, no one can deny how clutch he played in the playoffs this year. He was an essential part of the Ravens becoming Superbowl champs, so props to him for that. He is also in his prime as a quarter back, 28 years old and 5 years of experience under his belt. I also wanted to point out he has not missed a game in his career. So there are no worries about his health.
Now moving on. If you want to determine his worth you have to look at more than just recent playoff stretch. His production in the regular season and past years need to be analyzed. I've put together some graphs and tables of his stats over the past five years and will compare them to other quarterbacks.
--- The first stats I wanted to look at was his regular season passing yards. As you can see he has been putting up some consistent numbers - throwing in the 3500-4000 range. In 2010 he had the 11th most passing yards for a quarterback. In 2011 he had the 12th most passing yards. And this past season (2012) he was 14th.
--- These next stats are his regular season touchdown and interception totals. His touchdown totals are middle of the pack while his interceptions remain pretty low helping his td to int ratio. In 2010 he had the 10th most touchdowns. In 2011 he had the 14th most touchdowns. This past season (2012) he had the 16th most touchdowns.
| Season | Yards | Tds | Int | Td:Int | Comp % | Passer Rating |
| 2012 | 3817 | 22 | 10 | 2.2 | 59.7 | 87.7 |
| 2011 | 3610 | 20 | 12 | 1.67 | 57.6 | 80.9 |
| 2010 | 3622 | 25 | 10 | 2.50 | 62.6 | 93.6 |
| 2009 | 3613 | 21 | 12 | 1.75 | 63.1 | 88.9 |
| 2008 | 2971 | 14 | 12 | 1.17 | 60 | 80.3 |
--- Here's a table showing his yards, Tds, Int plus some other stats. Notice he has had a decent TD:Int ratio because he keeps his interception count down. His completion percentage has been average and same with his Passer Rating.
Quarterback that I consider to be 'elite' (I dislike that word for describing anything but will use it anyway), or the best in the league, are in no particular order:
Peyton Manning
Drew Brees
Tom Brady
Aaron Rodgers
These quarterbacks are paid to carry their respective teams. Without their quarterbacks these teams wouldn't be Superbowl contenders. Let's compare their stats for this season and the past 5 years.
---Peyton Manning (Average Salary: 19.2 million)
| Season | Yards | TDs | Int | Td:Int | Comp % | Passer Rating |
| 2012 | 4659 | 37 | 11 | 3.36 | 68.6 | 105.8 |
| 2011 | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
| 2010 | 4700 | 33 | 17 | 1.94 | 66.3 | 91.9 |
| 2009 | 4500 | 33 | 16 | 2.06 | 68.8 | 99.9 |
| 2008 | 4135 | 27 | 12 | 2.25 | 66.8 | 95 |
| 2007 | 3739 | 31 | 14 | 2.21 | 65.4 | 98 |
---Drew Brees (Average Salary: 20 million)
| Season | Yards | TDs | Int | Td:Int | Comp % | Passer Rating |
| 2012 | 5177 | 43 | 19 | 2.26 | 63 | 96.3 |
| 2011 | 5476 | 46 | 14 | 3.29 | 71.2 | 110.6 |
| 2010 | 4620 | 33 | 22 | 1.50 | 68.1 | 90.9 |
| 2009 | 4388 | 34 | 11 | 3.09 | 70.6 | 109.6 |
| 2008 | 5069 | 34 | 17 | 2.00 | 65 | 96.2 |
--- Tom Brady (Average Salary: 14.12 million)
| Season | Yards | TDs | Int | Td:Int | Comp % | Passer Rating |
| 2012 | 4827 | 34 | 8 | 4.25 | 63 | 98.7 |
| 2011 | 5235 | 39 | 12 | 3.25 | 65.6 | 105.6 |
| 2010 | 3900 | 36 | 4 | 9.00 | 65.9 | 111 |
| 2009 | 4398 | 28 | 13 | 2.15 | 65.7 | 96.2 |
| 2008 | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ | ~ |
--- Aaron Rodgers (Average Salary: 8 million)
| Season | Yards | TDs | Int | Td:Int | Comp % | Passer Rating |
| 2012 | 4295 | 39 | 8 | 4.88 | 67.2 | 108 |
| 2011 | 4643 | 45 | 6 | 7.50 | 68.3 | 122.5 |
| 2010 | 3922 | 28 | 11 | 2.55 | 65.7 | 101.2 |
| 2009 | 4434 | 30 | 7 | 4.29 | 64.7 | 103.2 |
| 2008 | 4038 | 28 | 13 | 2.15 | 63,6 | 93.8 |
Just glancing at the stats of these 'elite' quarterbacks and comparing them to Joe Flacco's stats makes it quite clear that there is a gap between their production levels. I expect Flacco to make incremental improvements over the next couple years but I don't expect him to ever reach these 'elite' quarterbacks. The Ravens definitely have a franchise quarterback on their roster but I believe they overpaid for him and hurt their team in the long run by taking up a large chunk of cap space.
I'm not trying to hate on him, I just think he is getting overpaid (This whole situation is great for Aaron Rodgers who will get paid even more, though deservingly). Flacco IS a franchise quarterback who has proven that he can win a Superbowl. However, he's not the only player on the Ravens. They have been a very good all around team and the coaches/gm have done a great job putting the right tools around Flacco to help him be successful.
Personally I would rank him around the 8th to 10th best quarterback. I'd rather have Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Matt Ryan, Matthew Stafford, Eli Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, and possibly Jay Cutler and Matt Shaub.
Where would you guys rank him among the qbs in the nfl and is he worth 20 mil a year?
