The Ravens traded up to select Lamar Jackson in the first round back in April. According to reports he's been getting some work at preseason activities, mixing in with the first-team offense. Maybe they'll have a package of plays that takes advantage of his mobility. Or maybe they'll make a quarterback switch early in the season.
Because there's no getting around that Joe Flacco has struggled the last two seasons. His weapons aren't great, and maybe last year he was affected by a back injury. But he's also 33 years old, and while some quarterbacks seem to thrive into their mid- to late-30s, that won't necessarily be the case with Flacco. Doesn't look like it, anyway.
Flacco didn't play well in 2017, and he wasn't particularly good in 2016, either. That's back to back seasons of him posting one of the worst passer ratings among regular NFL starting quarterbacks. Table shows all passers with at least 300 attempts in either of the last two seasons.
| QUARTERBACK STATISTICS, 2016-2017, BY PASSER RATING | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Player | Comp | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
| 2016 | Matt Ryan, Atl. | 373 | 534 | 69.9 | 4,944 | 38 | 7 | 117.1 |
| 2016 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 291 | 432 | 67.4 | 3,554 | 28 | 2 | 112.2 |
| 2016 | Dak Prescott, Dall. | 311 | 459 | 67.8 | 3,667 | 23 | 4 | 104.9 |
| 2017 | Alex Smith, K.C. | 341 | 505 | 67.5 | 4,042 | 26 | 5 | 104.7 |
| 2016 | Aaron Rodgers, G.B. | 401 | 610 | 65.7 | 4,428 | 40 | 7 | 104.2 |
| 2017 | Drew Brees, N.O. | 386 | 536 | 72.0 | 4,334 | 23 | 8 | 103.9 |
| 2017 | Tom Brady, N.E. | 385 | 581 | 66.3 | 4,577 | 32 | 8 | 102.8 |
| 2017 | Carson Wentz, Phil. | 265 | 440 | 60.2 | 3,296 | 33 | 7 | 101.9 |
| 2016 | Drew Brees, N.O. | 471 | 673 | 70.0 | 5,208 | 37 | 15 | 101.7 |
| 2017 | Jared Goff, LAR | 296 | 477 | 62.1 | 3,804 | 28 | 7 | 100.5 |
| 2017 | Matthew Stafford, Det. | 371 | 565 | 65.7 | 4,446 | 29 | 10 | 99.3 |
| 2016 | Sam Bradford, Minn. | 395 | 552 | 71.6 | 3,877 | 20 | 5 | 99.3 |
| 2017 | Case Keenum, Minn. | 325 | 481 | 67.6 | 3,547 | 22 | 7 | 98.3 |
| 2016 | Kirk Cousins, Wash. | 406 | 606 | 67.0 | 4,917 | 25 | 12 | 97.2 |
| 2016 | Derek Carr, Oak. | 357 | 560 | 63.8 | 3,937 | 28 | 6 | 96.7 |
| 2016 | Andrew Luck, Ind. | 346 | 545 | 63.5 | 4,240 | 31 | 13 | 96.4 |
| 2017 | Philip Rivers, LAC | 360 | 575 | 62.6 | 4,515 | 28 | 10 | 96.0 |
| 2016 | Marcus Mariota, Tenn. | 276 | 451 | 61.2 | 3,426 | 26 | 9 | 95.6 |
| 2017 | Russell Wilson, Sea. | 339 | 553 | 61.3 | 3,983 | 34 | 11 | 95.4 |
| 2016 | Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | 328 | 509 | 64.4 | 3,819 | 29 | 13 | 95.4 |
| 2017 | Josh McCown, NYJ | 267 | 397 | 67.3 | 2,926 | 18 | 9 | 94.5 |
| 2017 | Kirk Cousins, Wash. | 347 | 540 | 64.3 | 4,093 | 27 | 13 | 93.9 |
| 2016 | Ryan Tannehill, Mia. | 261 | 389 | 67.1 | 2,995 | 19 | 12 | 93.5 |
| 2017 | Ben Roethlisberger, Pitt. | 360 | 561 | 64.2 | 4,251 | 28 | 14 | 93.4 |
| 2016 | Matthew Stafford, Det. | 388 | 594 | 65.3 | 4,327 | 24 | 10 | 93.3 |
| 2016 | Russell Wilson, Sea. | 353 | 546 | 64.7 | 4,219 | 21 | 11 | 92.6 |
| 2017 | Jameis Winston, T.B. | 282 | 442 | 63.8 | 3,504 | 19 | 11 | 92.2 |
| 2016 | Andy Dalton, Cin. | 364 | 563 | 64.7 | 4,206 | 18 | 8 | 91.8 |
| 2017 | Matt Ryan, Atl. | 342 | 529 | 64.7 | 4,095 | 20 | 12 | 91.4 |
| 2016 | Alex Smith, K.C. | 328 | 489 | 67.1 | 3,502 | 15 | 8 | 91.2 |
| 2016 | Colin Kaepernick, S.F. | 196 | 331 | 59.2 | 2,241 | 16 | 4 | 90.7 |
| 2016 | Tyrod Taylor, Buff. | 269 | 436 | 61.7 | 3,023 | 17 | 6 | 89.7 |
| 2017 | Tyrod Taylor, Buff. | 263 | 420 | 62.6 | 2,799 | 14 | 4 | 89.2 |
| 2016 | Philip Rivers, S.D. | 349 | 578 | 60.4 | 4,386 | 33 | 21 | 87.9 |
| 2016 | Carson Palmer, Ariz. | 364 | 597 | 61.0 | 4,233 | 26 | 14 | 87.2 |
| 2017 | Andy Dalton, Cin. | 297 | 496 | 59.9 | 3,320 | 25 | 12 | 86.6 |
| 2017 | Dak Prescott, Dall. | 308 | 490 | 62.9 | 3,324 | 22 | 13 | 86.6 |
| 2017 | Derek Carr, Oak. | 323 | 515 | 62.7 | 3,496 | 22 | 13 | 86.4 |
| 2016 | Jameis Winston, T.B. | 345 | 567 | 60.8 | 4,090 | 28 | 18 | 86.1 |
| 2016 | Eli Manning, NYG | 377 | 598 | 63.0 | 4,027 | 26 | 16 | 86.0 |
| 2017 | Blake Bortles, Jac. | 315 | 523 | 60.2 | 3,687 | 21 | 13 | 84.7 |
| 2016 | Trevor Siemian, Den. | 289 | 486 | 59.5 | 3,401 | 18 | 10 | 84.6 |
| 2016 | Joe Flacco, Balt. | 436 | 672 | 64.9 | 4,317 | 20 | 15 | 83.5 |
| 2017 | Jacoby Brissett, Ind. | 276 | 469 | 58.8 | 3,098 | 13 | 7 | 81.7 |
| 2017 | Jay Cutler, Mia. | 266 | 429 | 62.0 | 2,666 | 19 | 14 | 80.8 |
| 2017 | Cam Newton, Car. | 291 | 492 | 59.1 | 3,302 | 22 | 16 | 80.7 |
| 2017 | Eli Manning, NYG | 352 | 571 | 61.6 | 3,468 | 19 | 13 | 80.4 |
| 2017 | Joe Flacco, Balt. | 352 | 549 | 64.1 | 3,141 | 18 | 13 | 80.4 |
| 2016 | Carson Wentz, Phil. | 379 | 607 | 62.4 | 3,782 | 16 | 14 | 79.3 |
| 2017 | Marcus Mariota, Tenn. | 281 | 453 | 62.0 | 3,232 | 13 | 15 | 79.3 |
| 2016 | Blake Bortles, Jac. | 368 | 625 | 58.9 | 3,905 | 23 | 16 | 78.8 |
| 2017 | Mitchell Trubisky, Chi. | 196 | 330 | 59.4 | 2,193 | 7 | 7 | 77.5 |
| 2016 | Case Keenum, LAR | 196 | 322 | 60.9 | 2,201 | 9 | 11 | 76.4 |
| 2016 | Cam Newton, Car. | 270 | 510 | 52.9 | 3,509 | 19 | 14 | 75.8 |
| 2017 | Trevor Siemian, Den. | 206 | 349 | 59.0 | 2,285 | 12 | 14 | 73.3 |
| 2016 | Brock Osweiler, Hou. | 301 | 510 | 59.0 | 2,957 | 15 | 16 | 72.2 |
| 2017 | Brett Hundley, G.B. | 192 | 316 | 60.8 | 1,836 | 9 | 12 | 70.6 |
| 2016 | Ryan Fitzpatrick, NYJ | 228 | 403 | 56.6 | 2,710 | 12 | 17 | 69.6 |
| 2017 | DeShone Kizer, Clev. | 255 | 476 | 53.6 | 2,894 | 11 | 22 | 60.5 |
The quarterbacks down in Flacco's range were generally either rookies (Kizer, Trubisky), backups or have been benched once or twice (Siemian, Osweiler, Hundley, Fitzpatrick) or were better in the second of the two seasons (Keenum, Wentz, Bortles).
It isn't necessarily over for Flacco, but 2018 will probably be it for his days as Baltimore's starter. Maybe he won't even last that long.
--Andy Richardson