| mrstickball said: Baltimore will never get back to the SB thanks to this contract. He's just not that great. He has a great supporting cast, and can be clutch. However, when he's soaking up a huge percentage of the salary cap, how are they going to surround a good (but not great) QB with good talent? |
I'm curious as to how you come to that conclusion when:
1. By all accounts, his deal is back-loaded, meaning that the cap hit for it won't be severe in the next couple of years. Meaning with a couple of extentions/restructures, yes, we could absolutely keep guys like Leach, Boldin and Jones.
2. The cap up sit to go up siginifcantly by 2014/15, and the Ravens may very well wind up restructuring Flacco's deal to make it work in the future. Either way, it's not going to be that world ending.
3. Even excluding the notion of future draft picks, the Ravens already have a strong nuclear of young guys on the offense that are going to be around for awhile, including but not limited to: Ray Rice, Torrey Smith, Bernard Pierce, Kelichi Osemele, Marshal Yanda, Dennis Pitta, (also most likely) Ed Dickson, and young receivers already on the roster like LaQuan Williams, Tandon Doss, David Reed, and Deonte Thompson.
The Defense is also obviosuly going to restock in the next couple drafts, and furthermore, as I said previously, top playters like Ngata, Suggs, McClain and Webb will all be back and healthy next season, meaning the D will be better than it was during much of the regular season in 2012.
So with a new (see: better) OC and offenseive system in place, with a full offseason to fully get rid of the crappy Cameron offense (finally), and such a good nucleus of young talent on both sides of the ball, I really fail to see how the Ravens are "never going to get back to another SB" with Flacco. Flacco may seem "just not that great" to some people, compared to other guys who have put up prettier stats, but, the one stat that matters most, WINS, he produces on a regular basis more than any other QB in the league in the last half-decade. Does he "win by himself"? Hell no. But no QB does. EVERY successful QB has a talented supporting cast around them, hence why they're successful. American Football is a team sport more than any other for a reason.
So I'm not saying that the Ravens for a fact WILL win another SB in the next few years under Flacco, but I'd sure give them a hell of a lot better chance than most teams.
