Throughout the 2012 regular season, Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco wasn’t pushing for a new contract, but he wouldn’t have complained if the team wanted to do a deal.
They didn’t.
Now, if the Ravens decide that Flacco’s performance to date in the postseason justifies working out an extension before his leverage potentially skyrockets with a Super Bowl appearance and/or an NFL championship, Flacco isn’t interested.
“Joe has never been more focused and less interested in his contract than right now,” Flacco’s agent, Joe Linta, tells PFT via email. Linta added that there’s "[p]lenty of time after the season” to talk contract.
When that time comes, Linta apparently plans to drive a hard bargain. “If you don’t think that’s an elite guy, then you’re crazy,” Linta told Ian Rapoport of NFL Network earlier today. “He’s a top five guy, if not better.”
Actually, Flacco’s increasing leverage won’t matter much. Even if the Ravens had lost last Sunday to the Colts, Flacco was destined to receive the franchise tag. The real question is whether the Ravens would have been willing to regard that one-year, $14.6 million contract as the launching point for talks on a long-term deal.
With each passing week, that’s becoming more likely.