The Facts: Flacco's agent, Joe Linta, told PFT that he expects to meet with Ravens officials at the NFL Scouting Coming in Indy this week to address the QB's contract.
Diehards Line:
Three years ago, the Ravens and Linta worked out a record-setting six-year deal that allowed the team to keep Flacco without using the exclusive franchise tag on him. But with $62 million of $120.6 million already paid out to Flacco, it’s now time for the cap numbers to skyrocket. From $6.8 million in 2013 to $14.8 million in 2014 to $14.55 million in 2015, Flacco’s cap number now becomes $28.55 million in 2016. And it gets no better in 2017, when the cap number moves to $31.15 million. (For 2018, the cap number drops, relatively speaking, to $24.75 million.) As PFT's Mike Florio suggests, a simple restructuring would only go so far. At some point, the Ravens will need to extend Flacco’s contract, pushing cap dollars from the current deal beyond 2018. The problem is that the $62 million already paid to Flacco eventually has to hit the cap; so far, only $36.15 million has been counted. So that’s nearly $26 million on money already paid to Flacco that will be absorbed by current and future cap years. With $58.6 million due to be paid over the next three years, this means that the Ravens need to figure out how to manage nearly $85 million in cap space from now through 2018. And Flacco has all the leverage. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.