John Elway once saw Joe Flacco steal a shot at a Broncos Super Bowl title away from Denver, and now he's going to give Flacco a chance to bring the Broncos a title. On Wednesday, news broke that Denver has agreed to acquire the former Super Bowl MVP in a trade with the Ravens, the first domino to fall on the offseason QB market. CBS NFL insider Jason La Canfora has more on the deal, which was first reported by ESPN's Adam Schefter: Getting a fourth-round pick for Flacco would be a pretty incredible haul for the Ravens, given his status with the team as a former starter replaced by a first-round pick at midseason. This is a shocking trade, there are no two ways about it. The Broncos were thought to be players in the free agent market or perhaps even the draft, with Case Keenum serving as a mild-to-major disappointment in his only season with Denver. He didn't put up numbers like he did in Minnesota, but surely the Broncos didn't think he would? Maybe they did, as Elway's solution is now Flacco, who has been largely mediocre in his entire career save for a very hot stretch of football in the playoffs that led to the Ravens winning the Super Bowl and Flacco becoming the highest-paid quarterback in football. It's Jackson's time in Baltimore Flacco was out in Baltimore after the Ravens drafted Lamar Jackson. No matter how 2018 played out, it was going to be Flacco's last season with the Ravens. The only question was whether or not they could find someone to take on his contract in a trade. It seemed fairly unlikely, but then Denver popped up as a suitor, sort of out of nowhere. Per Schefter, the Broncos saw "the demand at the position" and "pounced out of the gate on Flacco," having spent the week of the Super Bowl studying Flacco and putting together a deal before the combine rolled around and trade chatter between teams really got hot and heavy. Jackson took over for Flacco midway through the season with Flacco injured and the Ravens struggling. Baltimore retooled its offense on the fly, becoming a run-heavy team and eventually winning the AFC North and making the playoffs. The Ravens would lose in the first round of the playoffs to the Chargers amid people calling for Flacco to take over at halftime for Jackson, but coach John Harbaugh stuck by his guns and left his rookie quarterback in there. Jackson nearly completed a comeback on Los Angeles, and it's possible the decision to roll with Jackson helped to earn Harbaugh a large contract extension with Baltimore this offseason. Baltimore committing to Greg Roman as offensive coordinator only further cemented their move to Jackson. Harbaugh also spoke about Flacco after the season, essentially confirming he would be departing this offseason. For the Ravens, this is a massive win. They get Flacco out of town, sending him to a potential contender and making everyone happy in the process. They also don't have to cut the guy who brought the franchise its second Super Bowl. The Ravens will take on a $16 million dead cap hit with the trade, but they were going to have to pay some price for Flacco's deal in 2019 regardless. What a coup by Eric DeCosta in what is essentially his opening act as GM. What were the Broncos thinking? There are some concerns here if you're Denver. For starters, Flacco is 34 years old. He is not a mobile quarterback, so if Denver's offensive line doesn't improve, things could get ugly in the pocket. Additionally, he's battled injuries lately. He tore his ACL and had a back injury in recent years, just to name two of the more serious problems. Flacco's contract isn't terrible in the sense that it doesn't contain any guaranteed money, but he's certainly not cheap. He'll cost the Broncos $18.5 million in 2019, $20.25 million in 2020 and $24.25 million in 2021. Those are his salaries and his cap hits. The Broncos presumably will be moving on from Keenum at this point. Cutting Keenum will cost the Broncos $10 million in dead cap space while saving them $11 million in salary cap space, most of which will go to dealing with Flacco's contract. More problematic is the question of whether or not Flacco is actually good. Flacco has literally never led the NFL in a single meaningful passing category. Not even interceptions. He's a tall, strong-armed quarterback who can wing the ball downfield. But he'll be working with young receivers, as Courtland Sutton and DaeSean Hamilton profile as his top weapons. Flacco's best season was in 2016, when he passed for 4,317 yards and completed 64.9 percent of his passes with 20 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. That was his only season above 4,000 passing yards. His career high is 27 passing touchdowns. He's never completed more than 65 percent of his passes. He's only thrown less than 10 picks in his career once, and that was last season, when he only played nine games. His career high is 7.4 yards per attempt. The debate about Flacco being "elite" was always sort of silly to begin with. He's not. He was an average to above-average quarterback for a long time and he happened to black out and turn into Joe Montana during a playoff run. He's a clutch quarterback and has won some monster games in the postseason. But he's not some guy who is going to ramp up the Broncos offense. If anything, as our own Ryan Wilson noted, he's a taller Case Keenum. In fact, compare their stats from 2015 through 2018 (as Ben Baldwin of The Athletic did) and, uh, they're the same guy. Elway does not exactly have a history of smart offseason moves when it comes to acquiring quarterbacks. Landing Peyton Manning before the 2013 season was a master move and it resulted in some great teams and eventually a Super Bowl.<doc-sep>The Baltimore Ravens have agreed in principle to trade quarterback Joe Flacco to the Denver Broncos. The news was first reported by ESPN. The 34-year-old was the MVP when he led the Ravens to victory in 2013’s Super Bowl XLVII. He was drafted 18th overall by the Ravens in 2008 and held on to the starter’s role until he was sidelined by injury in Week 9 of last season. Rookie first-round pick Lamar Jackson took over for Flacco, didn’t relinquish the starting role and won six of the next seven games as he led the Ravens to the AFC North title. Teams are prohibited from commenting on the trade or the terms until it is officially processed when the new NFL year begins next month. Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported that Denver will send a mid-round draft pick to the Ravens in return for Flacco. In March 2016, Flacco signed a three-year, $66.4m contract extension that runs through the 2021 season. That will need to be reworked, according to Rapoport. The Ravens must carry Flacco’s $26.5m cap hit until 1 June, per the NFL Network. Flacco is likely to replace Case Keenum as the Broncos’ starting quarterback. Keenum, who turns 31 on Sunday, completed 62.3% of his passes for 3,890 yards, with 18 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. He has one year remaining on a two-year, $36m contract, with $6.5m of his $18m due for 2019 guaranteed if he is released. The Broncos went 6-10 in the 2018 season and missed the playoffs. They have struggled to find a reliable starter since the retirement of Peyton Manning in 2016. Flacco has spent all 11 of his NFL seasons with the Ravens, starting all 163 of his games played. He has completed 61.7% of his passes for 38,245 yards and 212 touchdowns but his production has dropped off in recent years.<doc-sep>Flacco is now a Bronco. The Ravens traded former Super Bowl MVP quarterback Joe Flacco to Denver in a deal on Wednesday and on the surface that really has nothing to do with the New England Patriots other than the fact that they won't see No. 5 when the reining Super Bowl champs travel to Baltimore in 2019. But peel things back a little bit and this move does have implications that could drastically shift how New England operates this offseason as it takes one more team off the board when it comes to finding a young quarterback. With Flacco now in place in Denver, the Broncos will likely ease up on the gas in their search for a future quarterback. While they still may take one at some point during the 2019 NFL Draft, it seems with this move they're focusing more on the here and now. Logic would then point to them using their first few selections in the draft this year to further build around Flacco. That's music to the Patriots' ears. This year there are a handful of quarterbacks making names for themselves leading up to the draft: Oklahoma's Kyler Murray, Ohio State's Dwayne Haskins, Duke's Daniel Jones and Missouri's Drew Lock to name a few. Now that Denver will likely use their first round selection on a non-quarterback, that'll likely inch one of these quarterbacks close to the Patriots. Really, it's just a game of elimination for New England. Now that one team is seemingly out of the running, the better odds they have landing one of these young signal callers. Overall, this has been a positive week for the Patriots in their hunt for the next heir to Tom Brady. Along with the Broncos seemingly putting the addition of a young quarterback on the back burner with the Flacco trade, the Arizona Cardinals -- who have the No. 1 overall pick in this year's draft -- have recently come out and put their full stock behind last year's first round pick in Josh Rosen, despite rumblings of new Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury's affection for Kyler Murray. As it looks right now, the Giants, Redskins, Jaguars, Dolphins and Chargers are teams that, in theory, could spend their first rounder on a quarterback this year along with the Patriots. The good news for New England along with eliminating the Broncos from that race is the fact that they have a strong amount of draft capital heading into this offseason. Along with their first rounder, they also on two second rounders and two thirds. That should give them enough assets to move around the draft board if they so choose, especially if they fall in love with a specific player. While it's easy to gloss over this trade as it doesn't involve the Patriots, the ripple effect could eventually make waves over at 1 Patriot Place.<doc-sep>The Denver Broncos got football back into the sports headlines yesterday as they announced that they were trading away a draft pick in exchange for Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Flacco. Flacco has been in decline the last few years and lost his starting job to rookie Lamar Jackson who ended up starting the Ravens only playoff game this season. John Elway has been known for picking up quarterbacks in the later stages of their careers. He did it in 2012 when he picked up Peyton Manning and that eventually got the team a Super Bowl in 2016. Former Broncos player Elvis Dumervil spoke to TMZ Sports about the trade and noted that while the Broncos did get better, it's not going to work out as well as it did with Manning. "It's a big gamble. Definitely desperate, no doubt ... It can be a great deal, or it can be another bad decision by John Elway," Dumervil explained. "[Elway] did a genius move with Peyton Manning. But unfortunately, Joe Flacco is no Peyton Manning." The Broncos had a pitiful season with Case Keenum at QB last season. They finished with a record of 6-10 and missed the playoffs for the second straight season.<doc-sep>
Will Cain argues that if the Broncos' trade for Joe Flacco doesn't work out, it could be the defining moment in John Elway's career as their GM. (1:38) The Baltimore Ravens have an agreement in principle to trade former Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco to the Denver Broncos, league sources told ESPN on Wednesday. The trade cannot officially be processed until the new league year begins March 13. The teams are prohibited from commenting on the deal or the terms. When the deal is completed, it likely will be for a midround pick, sources told ESPN. The agreement means that Baltimore is officially committing to Lamar Jackson as its quarterback. When the deal is completed, the Ravens will save $10.5 million in cap space. However, they will carry $16 million in dead money on their 2019 cap. Meanwhile, the Broncos, who have the 10th overall pick in this year's draft, are addressing their biggest need as the NFL's offseason quarterback carousel is beginning to spin. Trade talks between Baltimore and Denver commenced Monday and culminated Wednesday morning, when the Broncos agreed to the deal for Flacco, the MVP of Super Bowl XLVII. This trade is the first domino to fall this offseason, with other quarterbacks such as Nick Foles, Ryan Tannehill, Tyrod Taylor and Blake Bortles expected to change teams. The Jacksonville Jaguars, Washington Redskins and Miami Dolphins are among the teams expected to add new quarterbacks. Joe Flacco, Since Winning Super Bowl Since winning the Super Bowl, Joe Flacco has fallen on hard times for the Ravens. NFL Rank Cash value $124M 4th TD-Int ratio 1.4:1 34th << 1st down pct. 31% 35th << Yards per att. 6.5 35th << >> Out of 36 QBs with at least 1,000 att. -- ESPN Stats & Information The demand at the position is one reason Denver pounced on Flacco. The Broncos began to study him during Super Bowl week, sources told ESPN, and agreed to a deal before the combine. Flacco, 34, has no more guaranteed money on his contract. His contract carries base salaries of $18.5 million for 2019, $20.25 million in 2020 and $24.25 million in 2021. New Broncos coach Vic Fangio was in Baltimore for Flacco's first two seasons, so he knows what he'll be getting. Former Broncos executive Gary Kubiak also was a noted Flacco fan, and his opinions were a strong starting point to selling Denver on the deal. The trade means the Broncos are moving on from quarterback Case Keenum, who started for the team last season after signing a two-year, $36 million contract in free agency. He is due $18 million in 2019, with just $7 million guaranteed. The Broncos will carry $10 million in dead money if they cut him. Keenum tied for the second-most interceptions in the league this past season with 15, and his 6.6 yards per attempt was 29th. This marks the first trade for new Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta, who replaced Ozzie Newsome at the conclusion of last season. Denver does have two fourth-round picks -- its own and the one acquired from the Houston Texans in exchange for wide receiver Demaryius Thomas. Whatever the compensation turns out to be, Flacco will be playing in Denver, where he had a huge role in the "Mile High Miracle" in January 2013 -- a 70-yard touchdown pass to Jacoby Jones that sent an AFC divisional playoff game into overtime. The Ravens went on to win the game in double overtime, followed by victories in the AFC Championship Game and the Super Bowl. Broncos executive John Elway has consistently said since season's end that he would consider any and all options to repair the team's quarterback struggles. The Broncos used four different starting quarterbacks over the last two seasons and cut Paxton Lynch, their first-round pick in 2016, last summer. ESPN's Jeff Legwold contributed to this report.