“The Competition” is a series that breaks down every position battle leading up to training camp.
Returning Players
Joe Flacco (6-foot-6, 245 pounds; 8th season)
Newcomer
Matt Schaub (6-6, 235; 12th season)Bryn Renner (6-3, 228; 1st season)
Rookies
Jerry Lovelocke (6-4, 248; undrafted)
Projected Starters
This is a no-brainer. Flacco enters his eighth season as the entrenched starter and franchise quarterback. Flacco is entering a contract year of sorts (his deal will likely be renegotiated this offseason), and had great results his last season in that situation, ending it with a Super Bowl MVP.
Flacco has looked extremely sharp throughout the offseason. Despite having his fourth offensive coordinator since 2012, Flacco is making the transition well and will look to build on that with a strong camp.
Key Role Players
The Ravens have never needed a backup quarterback for as long as Flacco has been under center. However, the backup quarterback on most teams still has an integral role. If Flacco were to suffer an injury, Schaub would be called on to lead the offense and win games.
Most Anticipated Battle
Schaub would have to have a terrible training camp for there to be an actual battle for the backup job. The Ravens signed him to a reported one-year, $3 million contract this offseason. Schaub didn’t have the best offseason as he threw multiple interceptions and had some accuracy issues during practices open to the media. A couple of those interceptions would have been returned for touchdowns, something that plagued Schaub the past two years in Houston and Oakland, respectively.
Renner was an undrafted rookie with Denver last training camp but didn’t make the team. He instead went to play for the Arena Football League’s Arizona Rattlers. The Ravens opted to keep he and Lovelocke over last year’s sixth-round pick Keith Wenning.
