It has already been a wild 2020 NFL free agency season, and it hasn’t even been a full week yet. The biggest news of this offseason has been that of quarterbacks and where the big names will go, but another has now been added to the field. Joe Flacco landed with the Denver Broncos last year after a long career in Baltimore, but he has now been released, with a “failed physical designation” putting him on the market.
The news first came from ESPN’s Adam Schefter who said the Broncos let Flacco know he was being waived. As such, he ended up as the latest veteran quarterback looking for a job and someone who could add a lot of talent to another NFL team.
Broncos just informed former Super-Bowl MVP Joe Flacco that he is being waived with a failed physical designation, per source.
Flacco now joins a group of free-agent QBs looking for work.
Three Super Bowl MVPs in headlines this week: Flacco waived, Foles traded, TB to TB.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 19, 2020
Flacco missed the final eight games of the 2019 season with a neck injury that led to rookie Drew Lock landing in the spotlight. The Broncos are expected to go with Lock as their starter from this point forward, thus making the huge contract of Flacco expendable.
For the upcoming season, Flacco was due to make $20.25 million. After his injury, no one expected the Broncos to keep that going. By releasing him, Denver is going to save a little over $10 million against the salary cap.
Even before the injury that ended his first season in Denver very early, he was not having a great year and his stats were noticeably on the decline, as reported by the official website of the NFL .
After being officially declared done for the season, Flacco finished the year with 1,822 yards, six touchdowns, and five interceptions in eight starts which saw him go 2-6. He was sacked 26 times in those eight games as his offensive line could not keep defenders from getting to him.
Broncos are waiving Joe Flacco with a failed physical designation, per @AdamSchefter pic.twitter.com/LwBvKzhTtS
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) March 19, 2020
During the season, Flacco knew that something was going on with his neck as he said in October that he had been feeling discomfort for weeks. Just five days after another loss to the Indianapolis Colts on October 27, the longtime NFL signal-caller ended up on injured reserve.
Flacco has made it obvious in numerous interviews that he wants to continue his NFL career even though he is now 35 years old. He is now joining a free-agent quarterback class that has recently seen Tom Brady, Drew Brees , Teddy Bridgewater, Kyle Allen, Marcus Mariota, and Chase Daniel agree to join new teams or re-sign with their current ones.
Flacco’s lone season with the Broncos will likely be a forgettable one for him and the fans at Mile High. They are moving on and so will Flacco, but where will he end up? There are still some NFL teams out there that could upgrade their quarterback rotation by signing the former first-round draft pick out of Delaware, but he could also serve as a mentor for a young signal-caller somewhere.