By Jordan Long
The Denver Broncos are going to make a decision on quarterback Joe Flacco for 2020. He is under contract for this season. They hope he will be healthy enough to be on an NFL roster this season.
Denver traded for Joe Flacco last offseason for a 4th-round draft pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. Denver wanted a veteran quarterback who could lead this team to the playoffs. Flacco fit that need even if it was going to be for a few seasons. It also gave him a chance to mentor Drew Lock.
It didn’t work out for the Broncos last season. Flacco started in 8 games for Denver but he struggled going 2-6. He passed for 1,822 yards and 6 touchdowns. His problem was finding receivers open downfield. Flacco didn’t try to throw deep passes that were over 10+ yards. His passes were mostly in the middle of the field about 5 yards downfield. When he tried to throw it longer than that, those were often picked off tossing 5 of them.
Denver had to shut Flacco down due to a herniated disc in his neck. The Broncos went with Brandon Allan and Drew Lock under center. Allen went 1-2 as a starter. Lock finished the final 5 games and went 4-1. Lock is expected to be the starting quarterback for 2020.
Denver is anticipating Flacco to be healthy enough to play in 2020. According to CBSsports.com, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler said, “He’s the forgotten man in this quarterback carousel. I’m told Flacco recently underwent an MRI on that neck injury that he suffered during the season and the Broncos believe that he should be able to play next season whether that’s in Denver or elsewhere. They might want a fresh start with Drew Lock, they would greatly have to reduce his $20-plus million salary to keep him around as a backup, but this is a guy with a lot of experience who could be on the open market soon enough.”
Denver has a few options this offseason with Flacco. The first one is to keep Flacco on the roster as a backup. He is a veteran and not many teams have a backup quarterback who has as much experience in the NFL as Flacco. If Lock struggles on offense, he can replace him and possibly have better results. They may talk to him about restructuring his contract so that the cap hit isn’t as large for Denver to sign free agents.
The second alternative is to try to find a trade partner. The biggest problem with that is his contract. Flacco is going to make $20 million this season. His cap hit is going to be around $23.6 million, a lot of money for any team to take on.
The final choice for Denver is to straight up cut him. This could be the best one if Denver feels Flacco can’t be part of the team. By cutting him Denver saves $10 million this season. Denver will likely explore all 3 possibilities before making the best decision for the team moving forward as they hope to return to the playoffs.
Leave a Reply