[News] Ravens Sign Joe Flacco To Contract Extension

[BR News]

The Ravens’ franchise quarterback is now under contract through the 2021 season.

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[glen ferguson]

sweet.

[The Greek]

team player but the fo needs to be smarter with everyones contracts from now on so they do not get themselves in a position of awful backloaded contracts

[ellicottraven]

Great. Now that we've freed up 6M from Flacco's 28.55M cap, it is time to lock up Aiken and K.O. If it is determined that Monroe was playing up his injury last year (looks like the most likely scenario for why the Ravens have soured on him), cut that guy and make sure he doesn't get to fool another NFL team. Although K.O may not be as good a tackle as Monroe (all things being equal), he will at least suit up. Now we need a solid guard by way of trade or in the draft and we'll be all set.

[ravenwildman]

This is very cool indeed! Cap space, 6th overall pick, Sizzle and SSS coming back.....Starting to look pretty sweet in Ravens world! GO RAVENS!

[ravens4life86]

Good News.

[drgeo]

Hey Joe, a $40 mil signing bonus! Kinda like winning the lottery! You may already be a winner!

[merryjman]

team player but the fo needs to be smarter with everyones contracts from now on so they do not get themselves in a position of awful backloaded contracts

Wrong on all counts! This was designed to be a 3-year contract all along; both Flacco's agent and Ozzie said so. The backloading is what kept our salary cap manageable for the first 3 years, and that's what the extension does too. So this was actually the smart way to pay the Super Bowl MVP the money he demanded.

[The Greek]

1 hour ago, ellicottraven said:

Great. Now that we've freed up 6M from Flacco's 28.55M cap, it is time to lock up Aiken and K.O. If it is determined that Monroe was playing up his injury last year (looks like the most likely scenario for why the Ravens have soured on him), cut that guy and make sure he doesn't get to fool another NFL team. Although K.O may not be as good a tackle as Monroe (all things being equal), he will at least suit up. Now we need a solid guard by way of trade or in the draft and we'll be all set.

i agree with you but jensen and urshel looked solid at guard and maybe hurst would make a better guard or RT than backing up LT. i see the fo drafting or signing another LT as insurance

Edited March 2, 2016 by The Greek

[The Greek]

  7 minutes ago, The Greek said:

team player but the fo needs to be smarter with everyones contracts from now on so they do not get themselves in a position of awful backloaded contracts

Wrong on all counts! This was designed to be a 3-year contract all along; both Flacco's agent and Ozzie said so. The backloading is what kept our salary cap manageable for the first 3 years, and that's what the extension does too. So this was actually the smart way to pay the Super Bowl MVP the money he demanded.

you make some good points. im just glad they got it done before free agency begins so they know what cap space they have to work with

[rmcjacket23]

6 minutes ago, merryjman said:

Wrong on all counts! This was designed to be a 3-year contract all along; both Flacco's agent and Ozzie said so. The backloading is what kept our salary cap manageable for the first 3 years, and that's what the extension does too. So this was actually the smart way to pay the Super Bowl MVP the money he demanded.

Well, yes and no.

It was always designed to be a three year deal, but the whole concept of keeping his cap numbers small in the short term backfired, considering it didn't really help us from a W/L perspective. We've been basically a .500 team in the three years with low cap numbers, which wasn't the goal when we set out to do it.

The new extension will have much higher cap numbers across the board, and you certainly won't see anything near the large annual increases that we've seen in the past. He will have cap numbers north of $20M every year from here on out... something he's yet to have in his entire career.

[glen ferguson]

Now i would like to see us lock up Brandon Williams before next year.

[Matty G]

  10 minutes ago, merryjman said:

Wrong on all counts! This was designed to be a 3-year contract all along; both Flacco's agent and Ozzie said so. The backloading is what kept our salary cap manageable for the first 3 years, and that's what the extension does too. So this was actually the smart way to pay the Super Bowl MVP the money he demanded.

Well, yes and no.

It was always designed to be a three year deal, but the whole concept of keeping his cap numbers small in the short term backfired, considering it didn't really help us from a W/L perspective. We've been basically a .500 team in the three years with low cap numbers, which wasn't the goal when we set out to do it.

The new extension will have much higher cap numbers across the board, and you certainly won't see anything near the large annual increases that we've seen in the past. He will have cap numbers north of $20M every year from here on out... something he's yet to have in his entire career.

Well I always bashed the Ravens organization for the back loaded contracts, and cap situation. But I learned Flacco is different. It wasn't the Ravens that wanted really low cap hits and then a huge spike, that was how Joe Flacco and his agent wanted it. It is a safety net for Joe and his agent, because they know in 3 years they are both getting more guaranteed money, and zero possibility that Joe would get traded or released. With Ozzy saying he may eat the money this year........which by the way, is not what Joe or Linta wanted, which is why they scheduled the contract this way, I am hoping for more even cap hits, even if they are north of 20 mill a year. Looking at what couzins and Bradfor just got I guess noone can really complain.

[JoeyFlex5]

Time to lock up KO

[Ravensfan23]

10 minutes ago, rmcjacket23 said:

Well, yes and no.

It was always designed to be a three year deal, but the whole concept of keeping his cap numbers small in the short term backfired, considering it didn't really help us from a W/L perspective. We've been basically a .500 team in the three years with low cap numbers, which wasn't the goal when we set out to do it.

The new extension will have much higher cap numbers across the board, and you certainly won't see anything near the large annual increases that we've seen in the past. He will have cap numbers north of $20M every year from here on out... something he's yet to have in his entire career.

Flacco's contract had nothing to do with the win loss record. The whole purpose of the low cap hit early was to allow the Ravens to keep fielding a competitive team, which is exactly why Flacco was so receptive to restructuring the deal. 

Flacco having a low cap number allowed the Ravens to sign guys like Forsett, Pitta, Rice, Jimmy, Doom, Yanda, Monroe, Zuttah and Steve. The problem comes from many of those guys getting hurt after signing big deals. 

The injury to Pitta and legal issues of Rice is what backfired for this team not Flacco's low cap number early on.

[Dedicated Raven]

5 minutes ago, JoeyFlex5 said:

Time to lock up KO

Time to lock up KO

You ain't lying.

[The Negotiator]

Fantastic news, we keep Joe until he's 36 and get cap relife. Let's get the KO deal done next, go Ravens.

[ALPHA]

Great news. Hopefully this the last we see of his sleazy agent Linta. 

[rmcjacket23]

18 minutes ago, Matty G said:

Well I always bashed the Ravens organization for the back loaded contracts, and cap situation. But I learned Flacco is different. It wasn't the Ravens that wanted really low cap hits and then a huge spike, that was how Joe Flacco and his agent wanted it. It is a safety net for Joe and his agent, because they know in 3 years they are both getting more guaranteed money, and zero possibility that Joe would get traded or released. With Ozzy saying he may eat the money this year........which by the way, is not what Joe or Linta wanted, which is why they scheduled the contract this way, I am hoping for more even cap hits, even if they are north of 20 mill a year. Looking at what couzins and Bradfor just got I guess noone can really complain.

Well, sort of.

Joe and his agent wanted Joe to get as much money as possible in the first three years of his deal... that's how practically everybody wants it.

The difference is that the Ravens decided to accomplish a large portion of this through bonuses instead of base salaries. I have no issue with the $29M signing bonus that Joe got in 2013, because that's pretty standard.

What was NOT necessarily standard was the $15M option bonus in 2014, or the $7M option bonus in 2015 that Joe was paid. From Joe's perspective, if those bonuses were simply guaranteed base salaries instead of bonuses, the amount he and his agent receive is unchanged. However, from a salary cap perspective, changing from a bonus to a salary is the difference between being able to prorate the bonus vs taking the fully salary hit in that single season.

It would mean bigger cap hits in prior years with lower cap hits in later years. 

The only tangible benefit for the Joe's is that they may not necessarily get to renegotiate a new extension after three years.

[ravens4life86]

Take it easy everyone.. nobody on this team has me saying "That guy is HOFr" lock him up for 5 more years.
There is no Ray,Ed, or Sizzle(in his Prime),Ngata.

I think Mosley is that next guy, but so many injuries hindered his performance last year.
I also want to see who Ozzie takes in the draft. I expect 1 if not 2 gamechangers, having 2 top 40 picks and a top 6 pick. And if Ozzies track record on defense is any indication, Im banking on a pro bowl pass rusher or 2, or a DB aswell

[glen ferguson]

We need to protect our qb (priority #1) and i do believe we're gonna bounce back next year. I really do. How about cutting Zutah to free up some more dollars?. K O, Jensen,, Urschel, Yanda and Wagner, thats a darn good offensive line in my opinion. How about signing Danny Travathan MLB to pair with Mosley.We get a tackle in the draft (Spriggs), a pass rusher, a cb and a wr (Doctson). Suggs coming back healthy along with Flacco and SSS. We already have so much depth at wr, safety, and cb , all we need is for one or two of these guys to break out. I am so pumped up for this coming draft and is so excited for the 2016 season. Have faith RAVENS NATION.

[allblackraven]

10 minutes ago, ALPHA said:

Great news. Hopefully this the last we see of his sleazy agent Linta. 

Why is Linta sleazy? His job is getting as much as he can for Flacco, not to manage Ravens salary cap. And yet he and Joe were sensible enough to help on that front, too which works for both sides.

[rmcjacket23]

18 minutes ago, Ravensfan23 said:

Flacco's contract had nothing to do with the win loss record. The whole purpose of the low cap hit early was to allow the Ravens to keep fielding a competitive team, which is exactly why Flacco was so receptive to restructuring the deal. 

Flacco having a low cap number allowed the Ravens to sign guys like Forsett, Pitta, Rice, Jimmy, Doom, Yanda, Monroe, Zuttah and Steve. The problem comes from many of those guys getting hurt after signing big deals. 

The injury to Pitta and legal issues of Rice is what backfired for this team not Flacco's low cap number early on.

Well, again, yes and no.

It did allow us to sign those players, but it also meant we had to let certain players go that we otherwise may have wanted to keep. His contract, and in particular the future effect of said contract on the team, is a MAJOR factor in whether we are able to resign players now and in the future.

The entire point of backloading a deal is to prolong a window where the team can sign certain players and make another run at a SB. That's the entire goal. This goal, obviously, was not accomplished. This is hindsight analysis of course, but knowing what we know now, we'd have been better off not backloading and not signing some of the players that we did, because at the end of the day, the purpose of signing said players is to win more games than you lose. In our case, we really haven't done that.

And because of that, the time has come where Joe will cost more from a salary cap perspective than ever before, and we aren't likely to see a major increase in production to reflect that growing cap price.

The same could be said about most players, which is why teams have gone towards a much different approach with contracts. They are looking to align contract costs with production as closely as possible.

[RavensDieHard21]

Great Deal. I was hoping we would save more this year against the cap, but we should be thankful for the savings in the next two years. Hopefully ozzie stops substantially back loading these deals so we are all not frightened of cap nightmares. But anyway, $6 million is great for our next year and hopefully we have room to retain our players.

[ALPHA]

1 minute ago, allblackraven said:

Why is Linta sleazy? His job is getting as much as he can for Flacco, not to manage Ravens salary cap. And yet he and Joe were sensible enough to help on that front, too which works for both sides.

He's unprofessional, after Joe signed his big contract Linta went on USAToday and threw the front office under the bus for gambling on Flacco's contract, gloating about them being dumb.

[RavensDieHard21]

We need to protect our qb (priority #1) and i do believe we're gonna bounce back next year. I really do. How about cutting Zutah to free up some more dollars?. K O, Jensen,, Urschel, Yanda and Wagner, thats a darn good offensive line in my opinion. How about signing Danny Travathan MLB to pair with Mosley.We get a tackle in the draft (Spriggs), a pass rusher, a cb and a wr (Doctson). Suggs coming back healthy along with Flacco and SSS. We already have so much depth at wr, safety, and cb , all we need is for one or two of these guys to break out. I am so pumped up for this coming draft and is so excited for the 2016 season. Have faith RAVENS NATION.

We have guys on the active roster that fill those spots for now, but quality depth is questionable. SSS is in his last year, Aiken is a restricted free agent and Perriman hasn't played a down yet. Jimmy is the only legit starter, wright is decent depth, but then we have nobody, and safety I will admit our Safety positions has promising depth. Webby will be a great FS I think and Hill is a play maker and a thumper, whom is inconsistent, but a good player. Elam I think still has something to prove and Brooks needs to get healthy and quit with knucklehead decisions, such as his late hits. But I think LT is #1 priority now, which I hope leads to KO coming back.

[RavensDieHard21]

KO and Aiken, Come Home and let us build a championship team in the draft!

[BOLDnPurPnBlacK]

Hopefully the cap hits are more evenly distributed throughout this contract because the $22mill that looks manageable this year will only become more manageable over the next couple years as the cap limit increases. So long as Joe's ability doesnt take a huge dive we should be able to build a very competitive team over the next 4 years with Joe at the helm and hopefully be able to cut ties if necessary without too much dead money come the 5th and 6th years as Joe ages.

[ravens4life86]

Anybody have a breakdown yet???? Year to year

[CodeSpyder]

I am very happy about this. Now Joe can pick up some more nuggets on his way home.