Sources: Flacco to be highest paid player in NFL history

[Auggie]

espn.com / 3-1-13

Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens have agreed to a six-year contract in excess of $120 million that makes him the highest paid player in NFL history, a source familar with deal told ESPN NFL Insider Adam Schefter.

The two sides will work on the contract language throughout the weekend and Flacco is expected to sign the deal Monday in Baltimore, sources told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen.

Drew Brees is currently the highest paid player in the NFL, averaging $20 million per year. Flacco's deal will be somewhere north of that, a source confirmed to Schefter.

MORE: http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9006059/joe-flacco-baltimore-ravens-reach-agreement-according-source

"Highest paid player in NFL history." Well, what the hell could they do -- trade for Alex Smith?

[madinmaryland]

1. It will be interesting to see how the deal is structured. He is heading into the prime years of his

career, and it was pretty much a given here that he would be signed to a long term contract.

[bluedigger]

2. I guess he had all the leverage.

Good luck with that.

[Auggie]

3. Yeah, and good luck with that aging defense too.

[bluedigger]

4. Yup, he's going to have to carry them from here out, I think.

Reed will look good in Patriot blue.

[madinmaryland]

5. Belicheat give big money to someone with very so little time left? Given that you guys gave

just gave Brady $60 million guaranteed no less, it should be interesting.

Let me amend that: The "Brady Rule" will protect him until he is 60.

[bluedigger]

7. We can only hope for decades of further success.

You still remember hope, right?

[madinmaryland]

9. Well, considering that Goodell has created the "Brady Rule" that

allows no one to touch Tom Brady...

[bluedigger]

10. Keep clinging to that weak excuse for failure.

Clutch it like a drowning man going down for the last time.

[madinmaryland]

11. As a PED SOX fan it is ironic you are talking about "weak"

Too funny!!

[bluedigger]

13. You really need to find some new material.

Funny wordplay loses it's impact with constant repetition.

[Yavin4]

6. Mmmmmiiiisstaaaaaake!

[MadHound]

8. Flacco is a journeyman quarterback, that's all.

Yes, he led his team to the SB this year, but given his stats and his record over the years, he's really nothing more than a journeyman quarterback. His passer rating for last season was 87.7, Alex Smith on the other hand rang in with 104.1. Granted, Flacco has a better career average at 86.6, but still, he's not even in the top ten, much less worth being the highest paid QB out there.

But hey, fools and their money

[madinmaryland]

12. The point is, he has played his best games at the end of the year...

At least two playoff games every year that he has been in the league. A 6-1 record on the road in the playoffs. That's what they pay the big money for. Do you think Tono Romo would get that kind of money??

I will give you the fact that both Denver and New England HUMILIATED themselves at home this year, but Flacco has mad a lot of teams HUMILIATE themselves at home.

[MadHound]

14. Umm, no, that's not true.

2008, he went 2-1, losing the AFC Championship. 2009 he went 1-1, losing to the Colts in the divisional. 2010 went 1-1, losing to Pittsburgh in the divisional. 2011 went 1-1, losing out to the Patriots in the AFC Championship. This year he went 4-0, winning it all. That's a total of 9-4, with a SB win. Not bad, not bad at all, but consider, Brady has a career 17-7 playoff record, along with how many SB rings?

He is a journeyman quarterback. Yes, he has his moments of greatness, all journeymen do. But he also has his moments when the team has to carry him as well. That team around him is going to be taking a significant step back as well. Longtime center Birk is gone, as is the spiritual leader, Ray Lewis. The defense is aging, which is where Baltimore has always made its bread and butter. It is going to be a down year most likely for the Ravens next year.

Does Flacco deserve a pay upgrade, certainly. But to make him the highest paid player in the league, sorry, but that's a stretch. He is not the best quarterback, much less the best player in the league. He was a victim of fortunate timing, winning the Super Bowl in a contract season, and doing so with flair. But in a year or two, that big salary is going to look like a big bust.

[Auggie]

15. Two "Mads" making decent points

Flacco and team were able to exploit weaknesses in their most recent Super Bowl run, and for that the QB is being rewarded most generously. The NFL works that way, often against best judgment. You do have to credit Flacco: he made some great plays this year.

[JonLP24]

18. One other point

W/ records espeically regarding Flacco is misleading (and that is a great playoff record, much better than QBs that are better than him, especially when you factor how many of those wins were on the road, in the playoffs) because, early in his career he has played terrible in games they won and great in games they lost. His numbers in that AFC Championship were great and he threw a game winning TD pass in that game that was dropped by Lee Evans, then the kicker missed the kick, losing out on an opportunity to win in OT. This 4-0, w/ one of the greatest playoff performances by a QB in history, 2-0 on the road against the top two teams in the AFC, Denver & New England, and the SF defense is nothing to sneeze at.

[JonLP24]

17. Joe Flacco's Playoff Run Was Truly Elite (And Colin Kaepernick Was Pretty Good Too)

In January of 1990 -- the 1989 playoffs -- Joe Montana rattled off three straight incredible games. The 49ers legend compiled 800 yards on 65-of-83 passing (78 percent), fired 11 touchdowns and didn't throw a single interception. His five touchdowns and 297 yards paced San Francisco to a 55-10 demolition of John Elway's Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV. The performance capped what remains the best postseason ever from a quarterback.

Joe Flacco's January and February of 2013 didn't eclipse Montana's accomplishments, but he arguably came as close as anybody in the 23 years since, and almost certainly closer than any other Super Bowl winner. Flacco did it in one extra game and 43 extra pass attempts, but he matched Montana's playoff record 11 touchdowns (also shared with Kurt Warner in the 2008 season) and zero interceptions. His 1,140 yards rank third all-time, just behind Warner and Eli Manning in last year's playoffs.

We only have WPA and EPA data dating back to the 2000 season, but Flacco's playoff run ranks second in both to Warner, and tops of any Super Bowl winner:

http://public.tableausoftware.com/shared/3GZB35T9S?:display_count=yes

Flacco racked up 1.84 WPA and 49.4 EPA, easily leading all other 2012 playoff participants; his 8.3 AYPA led all quarterbacks as well and his 0.34 EPA/P trailed just Russell Wilson. Only his completion percentage (57.9) lags compared to the rest of the elite playoff performances, but he made up for it with absurd proficiency with the deep ball: at least four completions thrown at least 15 yards down the field per game, and a total of 17 on 35 attempts. These deep balls racked up 561 yards -- nearly half Flacco's playoff total -- on just over a quarter of his attempts.

http://www.advancednflstats.com/2013/02/joe-flaccos-playoff-run-was-truly-elite.html

Journeymen typically don't do this for the original team that drafted him and started every season only having one year that was below average and that was 2011. You factor in his playoff stats to his regular season stats his yards per attempt and passer rating would be much higher and against terrific defenses such as Denver & San Francisco.

Also contracts don't pay for what you did but on what you will do and this is the best time for that since Flacco is improving and could be a really great QB in his prime years. Whether they win a Super Bowl is another story, Reed & Lewis are old but they still have Suggs. Also he has terrific weapons in Boldin and Torrey Smith. Both still have some years left and as long as they're around, Flacco will be solid.

[Upton]

16. Yeah, his team won the Super Bowl.

However, last season, Flacco was 12th in the NFL in passer rating. He would have lost in the divisional round had the Broncos Rahim Moore not made a stupid play. Indeed, many of his big post season completions were as much a result of great plays by his receivers Boldin and Jones than anything Flacco did. He just sort of specialized in throwing it up for grabs and trusting his guys to come down with it.

How this makes him worthy to be the highest paid player in NFL history I don't know..

[Jamaal510]

19. Off-topic, but how do these people get paid sooo much money

when there are other professions that are more necessary to society? Hell, I think my geography professor would be more deserving of $120M.

[JonLP24]

20. Supply and demand

A top-flight professional athlete is hard to come by and even more difficult to replace. Teams competing for the services of these athletes drives up the price.

The Ravens were going to pay Flacco at some point, whether it was the exclusive franchise tag ($19 million) or a long-term deal. And if the Ravens weren't going to give it to him, the Browns, Cardinals and Jaguars would have been more than happy to sign that record-setting check. But the Ravens were never going to let go of Flacco. Baltimore knows how hard it is to find a franchise quarterback. The Ravens went through 15 starting quarterbacks in their first 12 years of existence -- from Vinny Testaverde to Troy Smith -- before drafting this big-armed, lanky prospect out of the University of Delaware.
http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/66304/joe-flacco-earned-his-history-making-deal

They would be paid much more if there were no salary caps like baseball and viable competing leagues for basketball(international leagues are viable, NBA players probably have the most leverage in that area for bargaining---imagine if the NBA didn't have a salary cap and then see how much Lebron would be paid), football, baseball, and hockey(not sure the strength of the KHL but NHL players did agree to contracts for overseas leagues during the lockout).