Like Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco will have low cap numbers in the next two years.
That’s where the similarities between their contracts end.
Actually, Flacco’s cap number will be ridiculously low. Peter King of Sports Illustrated pegs it at a paltry $6.8 million for 2013 -- which amounts to only 5.6 percent of the total cap burden from the six-year deal Flacco will sign later today.
Brady’s 2013 cap number is $7 million higher, at $13.8 million.
Next year, Flacco’s and Brady’s cap numbers will intersect at $14.8 million. After that, things get ridiculous.
Flacco’s cap number for 2016 will be, according to King, $29 million. $29 million! (For proper effect, think Dr. Emmitt Brown and 1.21 gigawatts!)
Absent a widely unexpected spike in the salary cap, then, this is a three-year deal that will be extended/restructured/whatever by the Ravens in 2016, after Flacco will have pocketed (as we reported last night) $62 million.
And it’s safe to assume Flacco won’t be agreeing to a three-year, $27 million extension at that time.