Joe Flaccodisplays a healthy amount of confidence about his place among NFL quarterbacks. His agent does, too, once saying that Flacco is looking for top-five quarterback money. Getting the Ravens to buy into how the Flacco camp views Flacco will be the hard part.
ProFootballTalk reported over the weekend that Flacco and the Ravenshaven't engaged in contract talks since the NFL Scouting Combine. No progress has been made on a new deal.
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In the meantime, the Ravens completed a big-money deal with underrated cornerback Lardarius Webb. The team is also making progress in contract talks with franchise tag recipient Ray Rice. In short, Flacco isn't much of a priority right now. He shouldn't be.
It's great Flacco is confident, but he's arguably coming off the worst season of his career. His completion percentage and yards-per-attempt fell dramatically in 2011. He played well in the playoffs overall -- especially against the Patriots -- but his regular season wasn't consistent.
The Ravens have more pressing needs. They could always use the tag on Flacco next year if necessary. Flacco's camp says that he wins like a top-five quarterback, but playoff wins aren't the best measure of a quarterback. If they were, Trent Dilfer achieved at a higher level than Dan Marino. (And Dilfer would have lasted longer in Baltimore. But that's another post.)
Flacco's development is more important than Baltimore's win total. That development stagnated in 2011. That's one reason why the Ravens are better off waiting and handling more pressing needs before addressing Flacco's contract.
If the team is going to pay him like a top-five quarterback, he needs to play like one for a season.
