Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is preparing to sit out three to six weeks with a disc issue in his back, report Ian Rapoport and Tom Pelissero of NFL.com (Twitter link). A worst-case scenario could put Flacco’s status for the Ravens’ Sept. 10 season opener in jeopardy, but the team only expects him to miss a week, tweets ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
If Flacco’s injury proves to be serious, the Ravens may choose to scour the free agent and trade markets for available quarterbacks. There are, of course, much-discussed unsigned QBs in Colin Kaepernick and Robert Griffin III. Those two offer vastly different skill sets than Flacco and backup Ryan Mallett, but it may be worth noting in Kaepernick’s case that he played under Jim Harbaugh, the brother of Ravens head coach John Harbaugh, in San Francisco. Kaepernick is also familiar with senior offensive assistant Greg Roman, who was once the 49ers’ O-coordinator.
Other available options include Christian Ponder, Shaun Hill and Zach Mettenberger, and anyone the Ravens bring in would initially join Dustin Vaughan behind Mallett. The team re-signed Mallett to a one-year, $2MM deal in March. Mallett hasn’t been effective since debuting with the Patriots in 2012, though, which could give a newcomer a chance to unseat him and become Baltimore’s top backup.
Flacco, meanwhile, is the unquestioned No. 1 with the Ravens, but the 32-year-old has taken steps backward since their latest playoff campaign in 2014. The onetime Super Bowl champion struggled over 10 games in 2015 and then succumbed to a torn ACL that November. While Flacco returned last year to start all of Baltimore’s games, he posted pedestrian numbers for an 8-8 team.
Deal for cousins!
um awful idea
Probably hurts from carrying that huge cap hit that’s crippling the team!