The Ravens drafted one of college football's best quarterbacks in the first round yesterday. It set the stage for some exciting yet anxious moments in the development of Delaware's Joe Flacco.
We would all feel more confident about the Ravens' quarterback of the future if it were Boston College's Matt Ryan. As a matter of fact, there would have been a parade downtown last night.
We would probably feel better if Flacco were from Louisville or Michigan.
But Flacco is from a tiny, Football Championship Subdivision school that played against Navy and Towson, not Ohio State and Notre Dame. That in itself is reason to be concerned.
Yet at 6 feet 6 and 235 pounds, and with a really strong arm, you can see why the Ravens selected Flacco No. 18 overall because he has unlimited potential.
Flacco is such an intriguing pick, and make no mistake, the Ravens targeted him. If they couldn't trade up or have Ryan slip to them at No. 8 in the first round, then they wanted Flacco.
Was it a stretch for them to trade up eight spots to No. 18 overall to select Flacco? Yes. But the consensus was that there was going to be a run on quarterbacks either late in the first round or early in the second.
So if Flacco was the quarterback the Ravens coveted, then it made sense to go get him.
But there are a lot of questions about Flacco, more so than if he had played on the major-college level. The game is faster at the Football Bowl Subdivision level than at the Championship Subdivision level, and it will speed up even more in the pro ranks.
Flacco took most of his snaps in the shotgun formation at Delaware, but that won't be the case here. He'll have to make other adjustments, such as playing in front of filled stadiums and running a much more sophisticated scheme than he ever ran with the Blue Hens.
"There are other quarterbacks like Kurt Warner and Tony Romo who came from small schools and [have] done extremely well," said Eric DeCosta, the Ravens' director of college scouting. "Joe has tremendous physical skills as a passer."
The Ravens did their homework on Flacco. They exhausted every resource to find out about the kid because they know the importance of finally getting this one right after so many past failures.
The Ravens said all the right things about Flacco yesterday. They talked about his arm strength and his leadership. They compared his size to that of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and talked about his leadership skills.
