Figuring out a contract for Joe Flacco will be difficult

Coming off an uneven statistical year, Flacco remains a unique case

"He's going to be there," Casserly said. "Both sides have a reason to get it done. From the Ravens' point of view, you don't want to get in a situation where you have to franchise him year after year because then the numbers gets out of whack on your salary cap. From Flacco's point of view, the guaranteed money is the incentive. You want to keep him around. What's the alternative? There isn't a viable alternative right now. He's obviously a guy that has shown flashes of being pretty good, and he was really good in the championship game, which was the biggest game of the season. That has to make you feel good about him."

In looking at recent contract extensions signed by veteran quarterbacks, it's difficult to draw any parallels with Flacco. The Kansas City Chiefs signed quarterback Matt Cassel to a six-year, $63 million deal ($28 million guaranteed) in 2009. Last year, the Buffalo Bills agreed to a six-year, $59 million deal ($24 million guaranteed) with Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Arizona Cardinals inked Kevin Kolb to a five-year, $63.5 million pact ($21 million guaranteed).

However, a strong case could be made that Flacco has significantly out-performed all three while winning a lot more games in the process.

"Certainly Joe and his agent would make the case that the recent quarterback deals were based off of much smaller simple sizes than he's put up, deals like Kevin Kolb and Matt Cassel," Brandt said. "Those all range in the $20 million guarantee and then $10 million average rate. Everything is negotiable but you'd think that the sample sizes is much smaller than what Flacco's done. The other end would be like [the New York Giants' Eli Manning] and [the San Diego Chargers' Phillip Rivers] from 2 1/2 years ago. Those guarantees were in the $35 to 38 million range. That might be another level than certainly what the Ravens were [willing to do]."

Brandt, who was the vice president of the Green Bay Packers from 1999 to 2008 and also served as a consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles, admitted that he can relate to both sides and is interested in seeing how the negotiations play out.

"I see the body of work that Joe has put up, especially in the postseason compared to other QBs and I see the Ravens not ready to stick both feet in the waters yet," Brandt said. "As I said, this negotiation will be a significant one in Flacco's career. It will be quote, unquote the negotiation. And for the Ravens, it will be significant, too. Once they do it, he's their guy. There is no looking back. Having been a team guy and an agent, I see both sides."

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Sun staff writer Matt Vensel contributed to this article

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