Flacco to Baltimore

After a meteoric rise in draft status for Joe Flacco, the University of Delaware QB went from small-school prospect to big-city savior when the Baltimore Ravens selected him 18th-overall in the 2008 NFL Draft.

The road to Flacco becoming a first-round draft pick was not easy for neither the QB nor the team that selected him.

Baltimore originally held the 8th-overall selection and began the day looking to trade up to the 2nd-overall pick held by the St. Louis Rams. The Ravens coveted Boston College QB Matt Ryan as much as the Atlanta Falcons, who held the 3rd-overall pick, but the Rams' asking price was too steep.

The Ravens decided to stay put at the 8th spot, but found a suitor in the Jacksonville Jaguars that began a flurry of activity in the first round. Jacksonville, in possession of the 26th pick, desperately needed a young defensive end and swapped picks with Baltimore to get Florida's Derrick Harvey. However, the Ravens, known in the draft for the shrewdness of their GM Ozzie Newsome, would also obtain additional picks in later rounds from the Jaguars.

With the extra ammunition, Newsome and the Ravens would soon maneuver into the 18th-overall pick held by the Houston Texans, swapping first-round picks as well as surrendering one of the selections obtained from the trade with Jacksonville. The move surprised prognosticators and NFL teams alike, but not as much as the player whom the Ravens had traded up to get with that pick: none other than Joe Flacco.

Flacco now becomes the highest-drafted player from Delaware, far surpassing Super Bowl QB Rich Gannon.

The only question for Flacco that remains is whether he can surpass Gannon's legacy, as well.

Gannon, a former-fourth round pick, would not find success until landing in Oakland several years after being drafted. Under the tutelege of then-head coach Jon Gruden, Gannon would develop into a Pro Bowl QB, eventually leading the Raiders to Super Bowl XXXVII after Gruden's departure, only to lose to the Gruden-coached Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Joe Flacco is in a unique situation, however, as his first-round pedigree makes it obvious that the Ravens view the Delaware senior as their QB of the future. Though Baltimore head coach John Harbaugh has publicly stated that there is to be an open competition at the QB position, the selection of Flacco with such a high draft pick only creates the financial pressure to start him sooner than later.

Flacco will square off against interesting prospects in former-first round pick Kyle Boller and former-Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith. Boller, viewed around the league as a failed draft pick, is looking to gain redemption after having struggled for the past five seasons. However, entering the final year of his contract, he does not look to figure into the Ravens' long-term plans. Meanwhile, Smith, a former-fifth round pick, started only two games at the end of a disappointing 5-11 season, but showed enough promise that fans have called for the coaches to give him a shot. However, the knock against Smith has been his small stature and the perceived lack of intangibles in the limited action he saw in 2007.

Regardless, Joe Flacco now has the daunting task of unseating two incumbents for the most difficult position in all of sports. In addition, he must do it in a city starved for a franchise QB to call their own since the days of Johnny Unitas and the Baltimore Colts.

Those are awfully large shoes that the 6'6", 220-lb. QB believes he can fill.