Webster’s dictionary defines ‘ELITE’ in a number of ways. Two definitions are: the best of a class or a group of persons who by virtue of position or education exercise much power or influence.
This word ‘elite’ is thrown around so cavalierly in sports that the lines of who is elite and who isn’t sometimes gets blurred. Take the NFL quarterback for example. When I say “elite” what names come to your mind? Brady, Manning, Rodgers. Want more? Drew Brees? Fla……should I say it? Ok….Flacco. Is Joe Flacco elite? This brings me to my next point. How does one define elite?
If an elite quarterback is measured by his bank account – then yes, Joe Flacco is ‘elite” with a capital “E”. Flacco as we all know just signed a 6-year/$120 million contract to stay with the Ravens, of which $52 million is guaranteed. I’d say that makes Joe Flacco’s agent elite. But seriously, for Joe Flacco, timing was everything. Playing in the final year of his contract, Joe Flacco went on a run for the ages and won a Super Bowl. A Super Bowl ring, wait a minute, is that considered “elite”? Hmmm, Trent Dilfer won a Super Bowl…never mind. Brad Johnson in Tampa. He might be considered elite in St.Pete, but that’s about it.
So let me answer this question myself – NO Joe Flacco is not an elite quarterback, but what he is to Baltimore is stability and security. Locking up Joe Flacco for another six seasons allows the Ravens franchise to not have to worry about the most important position in the game for awhile. You know what that $52 million guaranteed bought the Ravens? Peace of mind.
Which brings me to the Atlanta Falcons (doesn’t it always seem to come back to these guys?) Matt Ryan. Not elite. Matt Ryan is a free agent after next season. Matt Ryan’s bank account will be elite even if he doesn’t pull a Flacco and go on a miracle Super Bowl run this upcoming season. Why? Stability. You know what stability means in the NFL? It means you won’t become the Dolphins, or the Chiefs. A revolving door seemingly every other season at the quarterback position, just waiting, wondering, is this next guy going to be the savior?
History has shown that even when you draft an NFL quarterback the odds are 50/50 at best that he becomes a special player. In 2011, the first round quarterbacks drafted were Cam Newton, Blaine Gabbert, Jake Locker and Christian Ponder. How many of those guys will get a second contract with their current organization? Cam Newton probably, everyone else gets a maybe. You cannot afford to blow it with a first round draft pick at the quarterback position. If you blow it at nose tackle, you can perhaps recover, but at quarterback, it can set you back 5 years as a franchise.
This goes back to my point on why a guy like Matt Ryan is going to get paid. He panned out. Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff nailed it with Matt, if for no other reason he is someone you can bank on for a decade. Like Flacco in Baltimore. These guys aren’t elite, but they are consistent and stabilizing forces at the most important position in football. The Dallas Cowboys have a major decision to make with Tony Romo. Not elite by any stretch and a question mark in the stability column to boot.
So the next time you get into a debate with your buddies about which quarterbacks in the NFL are elite, just remember everyone has their own criteria. It may not be about Super Bowl rings or Pro Bowl appearances, but merely a sense of comfort you feel when Sunday rolls around and you realize, “thank God we aren’t the Chiefs!”