When last we checked in on Joe Flacco, the veteran quarterback was waiting to find out if he needs to have offseason surgery on the herniated disc in his neck that brought his 2019 season to an end.
Flacco indicated that he wants to continue playing as long as he gets the green light medically and said that he’d be open to staying with the Broncos as a backup to Drew Lock, but offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur said on Thursday that nothing’s been determined about the veteran’s future.
“I don’t know and I wouldn’t get into that in this setting. Again, I’m just getting to know the players, the ones that were here a year ago and I’m not sure who’s going to be here moving forward,” Shurmur said, via Nicki Jhabvala of TheAthletic.com. “I think he’s had an outstanding career. I thought he did a lot of good things last year. Unfortunately, he was injured and couldn’t finish the season.”
Flacco’s contract calls for him to make $20.25 million in salary with a cap hit of $23.65 million, which is a lot to spend on a backup. Cutting him would leave $13.6 million in dead money, so the team has some decisions to make when and if they know Flacco’s medical status for 2020.