The draft is approaching, and as always a large percentage of the league's teams are possibilities to select one of the draft's top quarterbacks. Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun thinks the Ravens will be one possibility, perhaps looking to develop somebody who can ultimately take over for Joe Flacco.
Zrebiec was responding to a question about this mock draft by NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah. In it he has the Browns, Broncos, Jets, Ravens and Bills all drafting quarterback in the top 22 picks. Should the Ravens do so, it'd likely be similar to Kansas City last year, where they let Patrick Mahomes sit for a year, then shipped Alex Smith out of town.
Certainly Flacco hasn't played particularly well of late. His weapons aren't great, and maybe last year he was affected by a back injury. But he's also 33 years old, and while some quarterbacks seem to thrive into their mid- to late-30s, that won't necessarily be the case with Flacco. Doesn't look like it, anyway.
Flacco didn't play well last year, but he wasn't particularly good in 2016, either. That's back to back seasons of him posting one of the worst passer ratings among regular NFL starting quarterbacks. Table shows all passers with at least 300 attempts in either of the last two seasons.
| QUARTERBACK STATISTICS, 2016-2017, BY PASSER RATING | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Comp | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
| 2016 | Matt Ryan, Atl. | 373 | 534 | 69.9 | 4,944 | 38 | 7 | 117.1 |
| 2016 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 291 | 432 | 67.4 | 3,554 | 28 | 2 | 112.2 |
| 2016 | Dak Prescott, Dall. | 311 | 459 | 67.8 | 3,667 | 23 | 4 | 104.9 |
| 2017 | Alex Smith, K.C. | 341 | 505 | 67.5 | 4,042 | 26 | 5 | 104.7 |
| 2016 | Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 401 | 610 | 65.7 | 4,428 | 40 | 7 | 104.2 |
| 2017 | Drew Brees, N.O. | 386 | 536 | 72.0 | 4,334 | 23 | 8 | 103.9 |
| 2017 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 385 | 581 | 66.3 | 4,577 | 32 | 8 | 102.8 |
| 2017 | Carson Wentz, Phil. | 265 | 440 | 60.2 | 3,296 | 33 | 7 | 101.9 |
| 2016 | Drew Brees, N.O. | 471 | 673 | 70.0 | 5,208 | 37 | 15 | 101.7 |
| 2017 | Jared Goff, LAR | 296 | 477 | 62.1 | 3,804 | 28 | 7 | 100.5 |
| 2017 | Matthew Stafford, Det. | 371 | 565 | 65.7 | 4,446 | 29 | 10 | 99.3 |
| 2016 | Sam Bradford, Minn. | 395 | 552 | 71.6 | 3,877 | 20 | 5 | 99.3 |
| 2017 | Case Keenum, Minn. | 325 | 481 | 67.6 | 3,547 | 22 | 7 | 98.3 |
| 2016 | Kirk Cousins, Wash. | 406 | 606 | 67.0 | 4,917 | 25 | 12 | 97.2 |
| 2016 | Derek Carr, Oak. | 357 | 560 | 63.8 | 3,937 | 28 | 6 | 96.7 |
| 2016 | Andrew Luck, Ind. | 346 | 545 | 63.5 | 4,240 | 31 | 13 | 96.4 |
| 2017 | Philip Rivers, LAC | 360 | 575 | 62.6 | 4,515 | 28 | 10 | 96.0 |
| 2016 | Marcus Mariota, Tenn. | 276 | 451 | 61.2 | 3,426 | 26 | 9 | 95.6 |
| 2017 | Russell Wilson, Sea. | 339 | 553 | 61.3 | 3,983 | 34 | 11 | 95.4 |
| 2016 | Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | 328 | 509 | 64.4 | 3,819 | 29 | 13 | 95.4 |
| 2017 | Josh McCown, NYJ | 267 | 397 | 67.3 | 2,926 | 18 | 9 | 94.5 |
| 2017 | Kirk Cousins, Wash. | 347 | 540 | 64.3 | 4,093 | 27 | 13 | 93.9 |
| 2016 | Ryan Tannehill, Mia. | 261 | 389 | 67.1 | 2,995 | 19 | 12 | 93.5 |
| 2017 | Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | 360 | 561 | 64.2 | 4,251 | 28 | 14 | 93.4 |
| 2016 | Matthew Stafford, Det. | 388 | 594 | 65.3 | 4,327 | 24 | 10 | 93.3 |
| 2016 | Russell Wilson, Sea. | 353 | 546 | 64.7 | 4,219 | 21 | 11 | 92.6 |
| 2017 | Jameis Winston, T.B. | 282 | 442 | 63.8 | 3,504 | 19 | 11 | 92.2 |
| 2016 | Andy Dalton, Cin. | 364 | 563 | 64.7 | 4,206 | 18 | 8 | 91.8 |
| 2017 | Matt Ryan, Atl. | 342 | 529 | 64.7 | 4,095 | 20 | 12 | 91.4 |
| 2016 | Alex Smith, K.C. | 328 | 489 | 67.1 | 3,502 | 15 | 8 | 91.2 |
| 2016 | Colin Kaepernick, S.F. | 196 | 331 | 59.2 | 2,241 | 16 | 4 | 90.7 |
| 2016 | Tyrod Taylor, Buff. | 269 | 436 | 61.7 | 3,023 | 17 | 6 | 89.7 |
| 2017 | Tyrod Taylor, Buff. | 263 | 420 | 62.6 | 2,799 | 14 | 4 | 89.2 |
| 2016 | Philip Rivers, S.D. | 349 | 578 | 60.4 | 4,386 | 33 | 21 | 87.9 |
| 2016 | Carson Palmer, Ariz. | 364 | 597 | 61.0 | 4,233 | 26 | 14 | 87.2 |
| 2017 | Andy Dalton, Cin. | 297 | 496 | 59.9 | 3,320 | 25 | 12 | 86.6 |
| 2017 | Dak Prescott, Dall. | 308 | 490 | 62.9 | 3,324 | 22 | 13 | 86.6 |
| 2017 | Derek Carr, Oak. | 323 | 515 | 62.7 | 3,496 | 22 | 13 | 86.4 |
| 2016 | Jameis Winston, T.B. | 345 | 567 | 60.8 | 4,090 | 28 | 18 | 86.1 |
| 2016 | Eli Manning, NYG | 377 | 598 | 63.0 | 4,027 | 26 | 16 | 86.0 |
| 2017 | Blake Bortles, Jac. | 315 | 523 | 60.2 | 3,687 | 21 | 13 | 84.7 |
| 2016 | Trevor Siemian, Den. | 289 | 486 | 59.5 | 3,401 | 18 | 10 | 84.6 |
| 2016 | Joe Flacco, Balt. | 436 | 672 | 64.9 | 4,317 | 20 | 15 | 83.5 |
| 2017 | Jacoby Brissett, Ind. | 276 | 469 | 58.8 | 3,098 | 13 | 7 | 81.7 |
| 2017 | Jay Cutler, Mia. | 266 | 429 | 62.0 | 2,666 | 19 | 14 | 80.8 |
| 2017 | Cam Newton, Car. | 291 | 492 | 59.1 | 3,302 | 22 | 16 | 80.7 |
| 2017 | Eli Manning, NYG | 352 | 571 | 61.6 | 3,468 | 19 | 13 | 80.4 |
| 2017 | Joe Flacco, Balt. | 352 | 549 | 64.1 | 3,141 | 18 | 13 | 80.4 |
| 2016 | Carson Wentz, Phil. | 379 | 607 | 62.4 | 3,782 | 16 | 14 | 79.3 |
| 2017 | Marcus Mariota, Tenn. | 281 | 453 | 62.0 | 3,232 | 13 | 15 | 79.3 |
| 2016 | Blake Bortles, Jac. | 368 | 625 | 58.9 | 3,905 | 23 | 16 | 78.8 |
| 2017 | Mitchell Trubisky, Chi. | 196 | 330 | 59.4 | 2,193 | 7 | 7 | 77.5 |
| 2016 | Case Keenum, LAR | 196 | 322 | 60.9 | 2,201 | 9 | 11 | 76.4 |
| 2016 | Cam Newton, Car. | 270 | 510 | 52.9 | 3,509 | 19 | 14 | 75.8 |
| 2017 | Trevor Siemian, Den. | 206 | 349 | 59.0 | 2,285 | 12 | 14 | 73.3 |
| 2016 | Brock Osweiler, Hou. | 301 | 510 | 59.0 | 2,957 | 15 | 16 | 72.2 |
| 2017 | Brett Hundley, G.B. | 192 | 316 | 60.8 | 1,836 | 9 | 12 | 70.6 |
| 2016 | Ryan Fitzpatrick, NYJ | 228 | 403 | 56.6 | 2,710 | 12 | 17 | 69.6 |
| 2017 | DeShone Kizer, Clev. | 255 | 476 | 53.6 | 2,894 | 11 | 22 | 60.5 |
The quarterbacks down in Flacco's range were generally either rookies (Kizer, Trubisky), backups or have been benched once or twice (Siemian, Osweiler, Hundley, Fitzpatrick) or were better in the second of the two seasons (Keenum, Wentz, Bortles).
It isn't necessarily over for Flacco, but 2018 might be it for his days as Baltimore's starter, especially if they do select a quarterback early.
--Andy Richardson