Let’s Just Call Him Trey Wrongo!

So, Trey Wingo took to Twitter with his theory on why the Ravens have missed the playoffs 3 out of the last 4 seasons.

1/2 The Joe Flacco contract should serve as cautionary tale. Ravens gutted team to pay him after SB 47. Have missed playoffs 3/4 years since

— trey wingo (@wingoz) June 27, 2017

2/2. And since 12 TD 0 INT SB run? Joe has worst TD to INT ratio of any qualifying QB that’s played multiple seasons since 2013

— trey wingo (@wingoz) June 27, 2017

He didn’t provide any facts to back his claim but don’t worry Trey, we got you covered over here at RSR. Let’s first look at Joe Flacco’s contract.

Contract (2013):  $120.6M total value and $52M guaranteed ($30M fully guaranteed, $22M – 2 option bonuses – guaranteed for injury only), with a $29M Signing Bonus and Option Bonuses of $15M (2014) and $7M (2015).

That’s odd!

Flacco’s cap numbers from 2013 through 2015 don’t look prohibitive at all. You could make the argument that this year’s team is the most talented since the Super Bowl team. And to avoid that behemoth cap number of 2017, Flacco and the Ravens worked out a new deal:

Contract Extension (2016): Three-year contract Extension, totaling $125M, with $44M guaranteed and a Signing Bonus of $40M.

But let’s dig deeper into this assertion the Ravens gutted their team after the Flacco extension.

Here’s a list of notable players the Ravens have lost since 2013:

Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Haloti Ngata, Pernell McPhee, Anquan Boldin, Kelechi Osemele, Torrey Smith, Paul Kruger, Dannell Ellerbe, Cary Williams, Darian Stewart, Tyrod Taylor, Lawrence Guy, Ricky Wagner, Kyle Juszczyk, Kamar Aiken, Jacoby Jones, Timmy Jernigan

Any fair critic would admit that the majority of the players here either got overpaid in their next stop or their play stop matching up with their cap number. This wasn’t a gutting because of Joe Flacco’s contract. This was “right player, right price”, a mantra that’s part of the Ravens DNA since it’s return to Baltimore.

So Trey, let’s look at the actual reasons for the lack of playoff berths recently.

Draft Misses

Matt Elam, Arthur Brown, Terrance Brooks, Maxx Williams and Breshad Perriman were all high picks that due to either injury or ineffectiveness have given the team little to nothing. For a team that builds through the draft this can be particularly difficult to sustain success when you miss high in the draft.

Injury

In 2014 the Ravens placed 19 players on IR. In 2015, they placed 20 players on IR, an NFL high including Joe Flacco who missed the last 6 games. I know many will counter with “next man up”, but when that next man start to dwindle down to fringe NFL players, there will be a drop off

Now Joe Flacco’s play since signing his extension has not been at the level many hoped for. I won’t argue with Trey there. The surrounding talent and lack of continuity are valid questions that are out of his control.  At the same time, his fundamentals and decision making at times have left much to be desired.

My question for Trey Wingo is, “What were the Ravens supposed to do?”

I’m not of the “QB’s win” culture, but knowing this franchise’s history at quarterback, you find a young QB that helps lead you to 9 playoff wins and a Super Bowl in 5 seasons and you let him walk?

The contract is a market thing and Flacco had all the leverage.

You pay market value or you try to find another QB.

Much easier said than done.

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