Who Will Stay And Who Will Go?

The NFL teams that lack a decent quarterback search desperately to find one. The teams that have one pay them preposterous amounts of money to keep them. And teams that think they may have finally found the answer at quarterback? Well, they pay them too.

As free agency approaches next week, the Baltimore Ravens and Washington Redskins ponied up. The Ravens extended by three years their deal with Joe Flacco and paid him an NFL-record $40 million signing bonus. Flacco has at least won a Super Bowl. The Redskins, after one season with Kirk Cousins steadying their leaky ship, will pay Cousins $19.95 million for a year of work unless they can come to an agreement on a longer-term deal that will likely be for even more on an average-per-year basis.

In Flacco, the Ravens know what they have. He’s been around since 2008, he’s 31 and he’s a known commodity. He’s also coming off a serious knee injury. In Cousins, the Redskins have the guy who wasn’t Robert Griffin III, a steady hand who broke several club passing records in guiding them to the NFC East Division title and the playoffs. What’s his upside? Who knows? All we know is the price of poker.

The Philadelphia Eagles kept Sam Bradford off the market with a two-year deal worth about $36 million. In five seasons with two teams, he has started all 16 games just twice … and he was the first pick in the 2010 draft. He is 25-37-1 as a starter, prone to injury and yet as valuable as a Faberge egg (though more fragile).

This is the NFL and its system, its byzantine salary cap system and whacko accounting that put IRS regulations to shame. But teams need quarterbacks and there aren’t enough good ones, so the price goes up and up.

The Redskins will soon be shedding RGIII. They’ll likely have to release their one-time starter. The guy who didn’t play a snap in 2015 is under contract for $16.5 million in 2016. His rookie signing bonus? Around $13.8 million.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman