Joe Flacco 2008 Fantasy Projections – Baltimore Ravens

With the 18th pick in the 2008 NFL Draft, the Baltimore Ravens took quarterback Joe Flacco out of Delaware. The Ravens, who lost Steve McNair to retirement earlier in the offseason, desperately needed a quarterback and got their man in the middle of the first round.

While Flacco comes from a small school, he has big frame, a big arm and big talent. At 6-foot-6, Flacco has great size for the quarterback position. While at Delaware, Flacco showed a powerful and accurate arm.

The big question mark regarding Flacco is whether he can make the jump from a small school to the NFL. Delaware is a Division I-AA football school, so obviously he didn’t play against great competition while at college.

Most quarterbacks who come from small schools to the NFL need a few years to adjust to the game speed. With that in mind, don’t pick Flacco in a redraft fantasy football league. He’s going to be on the sidelines a lot in 2008. Kyle Boller and maybe even Troy Smith will be ahead of him on the depth charts.

However, in a dynasty fantasy football league, Flacco is a high-risk, high-reward pick. Due to his size and his arm, Flacco might have the highest ceiling of any quarterback drafted in the 2008 NFL Draft. It will probably take two or three years to see much out of him, but there’s a chance that he could become a poor man’s Peyton Manning at some point down the line.

Photo: Newscom