Flacco Feeling Fine
Apr 26, 2008, 9:36PM
Stories: Calm Through the Storm | Day 2 Draft Picks | Rice, Flacco Wrap Day 1 | Ravens Get Their Man
Transcripts: Draft Wrap-Up Presser | Flacco Introductory Presser | Ravens Day 2 A.M. Presser | Flacco Conference Call
Blogs: The Big Board | The Byrne Identity | Insight to the Limelight
Around 5:00 p.m. Saturday evening, a loud cheer could be heard all around Audubon, N.J., home of the Flacco family.
That was when general manager Ozzie Newsome called Joe Flacco’s cell phone and asked him if he wanted to become a Baltimore Raven.
If the quarterback’s immediate answer was slightly muffled, Newsome would have to excuse the brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins that surrounded Flacco, a group that let their let their emotions out when Flacco became the 18th-overall selection in the NFL Draft.
“My mom has six brothers, and I have five siblings,” Flacco said from a conference call 20 minutes after he was picked. “A lot of friends just from around town are here, and a lot of family. All my grandparents, all my uncles, even my cousins and my uncles’ uncles. There are a lot of people here.
“Believe me, my house isn’t big enough to hold everybody, but everybody’s just having a blast and everybody’s just as excited as I am.”
Both Flacco and the Ravens think the match of player and team is perfect. It was shown to a national audience as ESPN’s cameras infiltrated Flacco’s house when Newsome called. It was evident as offensive coordinator Cam Cameron and quarterbacks coach Hue Jackson hugged director of college scouting Eric DeCosta outside of the Draft Room.
Flacco, 6-foot-6, 235 pounds, is coming into a situation that will allow him to immediately compete for a starting job on an offense headed by Cameron, who is known for developing young quarterbacks.
“The first thing that I want to do is prove that I can play football in the National Football League,” he said. “To get in there and have the chance to do that is going to be an incredible experience for me.”
Baltimore got their highest-rated signal-caller once Boston College’s Matt Ryan was taken third by the Atlanta Falcons.
The Ravens have been following Flacco’s progress since last August, and a prolific senior season at Delaware, where he led the Blue Hens to the Division I-AA championship game, had him inching up their draft board.
After a private workout on his campus and a considerable amount of time spent with the prospect let Newsome, head coach John Harbaugh and director of college scouting Eric DeCosta know that Flacco was the right choice.
“From a coaching perspective, we’re excited to have Joe Flacco in our quarterback mix,” said Harbaugh. “I had the chance to spend two days with him. Over a two-day period, I spent a lot of time with him in dinner, meetings and interviews. You’re going to find out he’s an impressive young man – a real competitor.”
“The thing that I really took from his workout in March, when we went up to Delaware to work him out, is that Joe is very coachable,” DeCosta explained. “I’ve been around a lot of quarterbacks in my career, where you try to change something with them and they’re not really receptive initially until they basically fail. When Cam and Hue worked with Joe, within five minutes they were asking him to do some different things, and he did.
“The improvement was unbelievable.”
The Ravens obviously were willing to work to get Flacco, initially trading back in the first round with the Jacksonville Jaguars to No. 26, and then back up to 18th when it seemed another team could steal the prospect.
Flacco admitted that such dedication was flattering.
“It’s pretty darn important to me that it lets me know how much a team actually wanted me and will be glad to have me down there,” he said. “I can’t wait to get down there and work hard and prove to them that they made the right decision that they moved up to get me.”
Even though his voice was being projected through a lifeless gray speaker, there was no mistaking the smile across his face.
Note: Flacco will be at the Ravens’ facility Sunday for a 2:00 p.m. press conference.
