https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...calls-the-broncos-trade-definitely-desperate/
Joe Flacco's ex-teammate Elvis Dumervil calls the Broncos' trade 'definitely desperate'
Elvis Dumervil spent the first seven seasons of his NFL career with the
Broncos. He spent the next four years in Baltimore, where he was teammates with current Ravens quarterback and soon to be Broncos quarterback
Joe Flacco. So it should come as no surprise to hear that Dumervil,
who retired in August, has weighed in on the trade between the Broncos and Ravens, which
will send Flacco to Denver in exchange for a mid-round pick when the new league year begins next month.
It should also come as no surprise to hear Dumervil criticize the trade from the Broncos' perspective and praise the trade from the Ravens' perspective. After all, it doesn't take real
NFL experience to understand Flacco's limitations as a quarterback.
On Thursday,
Dumervil ripped Broncos general manager John Elway for making a "desperate" trade, but congratulated the Ravens for making a "genius move."
"It's a big gamble -- definitely desperate, no doubt," Dumervil told TMZ Sports.
He added, "I think Joe Flacco needs an offensive guru. I don't think he really had that in Baltimore. ... I do feel that if he doesn't have a coach who can coach him -- the Sean Paytons, the Josh McDaniels, these kind of guys -- he's going to fail miserably in Denver. I think Elway is seeking to try to do the same -- he did a genius move with
Peyton Manning. Unfortunately, Joe Flacco is no Peyton Manning."
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Flacco will not have a Asshole Face or Josh McDaniels in Denver. The Broncos, who fired Vance Joseph at the end of the season, hired Vic Fangio as their new coach. While Fangio has been a tremendous defensive coordinator for the
Bearsand
49ers over the past decade (
which is why I was a big fan of the Broncos' decision to hire him), he's definitely not going to be Flacco's offensive guru. Perhaps Flacco's offensive guru will be new offensive coordinator Rich Scangarello, but that's impossible to predict considering he's never been an NFL offensive coordinator before.
In all likelihood, Flacco will join
Case Keenum,
Paxton Lynch, and
Brock Osweileras yet another unsuccessful quarterback acquisition made by Elway, who appears to be unable to solve a problem that's crippled his team since Manning retired after the 2015-16 season. Draft pundits have assumed that the Broncos will make a play for a quarterback in this year's draft, and they still could even after agreeing to acquire Flacco, but the fact that the Broncos will be paying both Flacco and Keenum (if they can't trade him) certainly makes it less likely they'll use the 10th pick on a quarterback.
It's not just Dumervil, by the way, who has criticized the Broncos' trade. So has the majority of the NFL community -- and with good reason. Since Flacco entered the league in 2008, he ranks
36th in completion percentage, 55th in yards per attempt, 53rd in touchdown percentage, 28th in interception percentage, and 45th in passer rating among quarterbacks with at least 16 starts, per Pro-Football-Reference. Flacco might be an upgrade over Keenum (key word: might), but if he is, it's a marginal upgrade at best -- one that required them to give up draft ammunition.
Hence the criticism:
View: https://twitter.com/benbbaldwin/status/1095731123987140608?s=21
It doesn't take a former teammate of Flacco to understand why this trade is not a good one from the Broncos' perspective. The Flacco acquisition fixes absolutely nothing, but adds another mediocre quarterback to their payroll at the cost of a valuable draft pick and cap space.
