Eagles signing veteran backup and SJ native Joe Flacco originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Eagles have found their backup quarterback in 36-year-old veteran Joe Flacco, according to his agent Joe Linta.
With the Eagles, Flacco will perhaps get a chance to finish his career for his hometown team and also presumably back up second-year quarterback Jalen Hurts.
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Before adding Flacco, Hurts was the only quarterback on the Eagles’ roster. The Eagles traded Carson Wentz to the Colts in February and Nate Sudfeld became an unrestricted free agent when the new league year began on March 17.
For Flacco, this is a homecoming.
Flacco is a South Jersey Native who went to Audubon High School and the University of Delaware. He has been in the NFL since he was a first-round pick back in 2008.
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Flacco played 11 seasons with the Ravens before spending the 2019 season with the Broncos and 2020 with the Jets. Last year, he started four games for the Jets, going 0-4 with 6 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. The Jets lost all four of his starts, but Flacco wasn’t bad.
The Eagles let the first wave of free agent quarterbacks — guys like Andy Dalton, Tyron Taylor and Jacoby Brissett — sign elsewhere. Those were the players who are either backups or fringe starters in the NFL and who would have really competed with Hurts for the starting job. By signing Flacco, the Eagles are showing that unless they draft a quarterback in the first round, Hurts is their guy in 2021. It’s hard to imagine Flacco really pushing Hurts.
At this point in his career, Flacco is a backup QB. But he’s a backup with experience who might be able to help Hurts grow into the starter’s role.
Despite having neck surgery last April, Flacco signed a one-year deal with the Jets that was worth $1.5 million. Former Eagles VP of player personnel Joe Douglas is the general manager with the Jets. And while Douglas hasn’t been with the Eagles since 2019, plenty of his former staff is still in place in Philly and that includes the man who took his place, Andy Weidl.
Like Douglas, Weidl spent many years under Ozzie Newsome in Baltimore and was there when Flacco was drafted in 2008. So there’s a level of familiarity with the veteran quarterback.
That neck injury was a major concern this time last year but the fact that Flacco played during the 2020 season should alleviate some fear. He’ll still need to check out medically.
In the first 10 years of his career, Flacco had an impressive 92-62 record and had a 10-5 record in the playoffs. He was the MVP of Super Bowl XLVII.
Flacco is also the subject of the internet’s most annoying question: Is Joe Flacco elite? If he ever was, he isn’t anymore. In the last three seasons with the Ravens, Broncos and Jets, Flacco has a 6-15 record. But as a backup quarterback for the Eagles, this makes plenty of sense.
In his career, Flacco has a completion percentage of 61.7 with 224 touchdowns and 144 interceptions and a passer rating of 84.1.
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