Fantasy Football: One Potential Cut Candidate for Every AFC Team
Baltimore Ravens - Joe Flacco
Cap Savings $10.5 million
Dead Money: $16 million
No other quarterback in Baltimore Ravens history can come close to matching the numbers put up by Joe Flacco, with 38,245 passing yards and 212 touchdowns in the regular season. But there is little doubt he has not exactly been a world beater since that magical Super Bowl run in 2012. Prior to 2018, the Ravens were 38-35 under Flacco since the start of the 2013 season.
In 2018, he went 4-5 as a starter, completing 232 of his 379 pass attempts for 2,465 yards, 12 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. His 0.10 Passing NEP per drop back was 18th out of 31 quarterbacks with at least 300 drop backs, while his Success Rate of 44.81% was 8th-lowest.
The writing was on the wall for Flacco the minute the Ravens drafted Lamar Jackson, to be fair. While Flacco has been a better passer than Jackson (Jackson’s Passing NEP per drop back is 0.00 on his 186 drop backs), the Ravens changed their offense to suit the skills of the rookie. Jackson did not attempt more than 25 passes in a single regular season game in 2018. Flacco never attempted less than 37.
Cutting or trading Flacco outright would leave a substantial dead money charge of $16 million. If they were to designate him as a post-June 1st cut, this would save the Ravens $18.5 million, leaving just $8 million in dead money. But they have spoken of their desire to do right by Flacco and may end up eating the dead money to trade him away.
