Early look at the Detroit Lions 2017 opponents: Baltimore Ravens

Quarterbacks

Here is the reason I think the Ravens decided not to sign Colin Kaepernick. There was plenty of buzz among those covering the team that they should. The problem with that is that it isn’t in the team’s long term best interest for that to work. Short term, yes, he is better than the options they have. Anyone who says Colin Kaepernick is not a better quarterback than Ryan Mallett has ulterior motives. Even with that said, I wouldn’t do it in their shoes.

Joe Flacco is apparently going to miss either one or three to six weeks depending on whose sources you believe. On the long end, that means he might miss week one. Who would you like your first team offense practicing with for all of training camp? Personally, I would like to have a player who was as similar as possible to Flacco. Mallett is not a great quarterback, but he is a strong armed pocket passer, just like Flacco.

In the worst case scenario, Flacco does miss time during the season. The Ravens offense would probably be successful for a short time with Kaepernick. It is difficult to prepare for a team without any real game film of their offense. I suspect the Ravens offense with Kaepernick at the helm would do very well short term. That sounds great if you’re a Ravens fan, but then the team has to adjust to Flacco when he comes back. They have a lot of new blood in the receiver corp, who would now be synched up with Kaepernick rather than a pocket passer like Flacco. The play calling would also change drastically with Flacco at the helm.

Flacco has not had a good run for the last few seasons. He has managed seven yards per attempt only once in the last three years. He has also managed a 2:1 touchdown to interception ratio only one of the last four seasons. Joe Flacco with a back injury is not likely to be a better quarterback than Colin Kaepernick in 2017. That becomes a problem in 2018.

Could the team walk away from Kaepernick after he outperformed Flacco? They would use more cap space moving on from Flacco than keeping him so he will absolutely be there in 2018. Bringing both in to compete for the job in creates a nightmare in the locker room because there are not many players in that room who remember when Flacco was playing well. I would just accept a possible week one loss with Ryan Mallett at the helm and move on. Joe Flacco will likely be the quarterback against the Detroit Lions.