After signing historic contract, Joe Flacco’s agent wants you to know that he is not stupid

Ben Cornfield | March 2, 2013 at 6:58 pm | 1 Comment

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco (5) holds the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl XLVII against the San Francisco 49ers at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. (Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports)

On Friday, the details of Joe Flacco’s unbelievable new contract with the Baltimore Ravens were released: Six years, $120.6 million, and the right to call himself the highest-paid player in the history of the NFL.

His $20.1 million annual salary is just over the $20 million Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints is getting paid each year.

But the contract does not simply speak to the 11 touchdown, zero interception postseason Flacco put together en route to a Super Bowl 47 victory. It also announces to the world that Joe Linta, Flacco’s agent, is not a jackass.

At least, that’s the way Linta sees it — because, as we all know, Flacco’s performance was entirely due to Linta.

“It’s nice to be right,” Linta said in a conversation with Jarrett Bell of USA Today. “Everybody laughed about it when I said he’s a top-five guy. When I said he should be the highest-paid player in the NFL, they thought I was a jackass. Hey, I do my job.”

Flacco was still playing under his rookie contract after being selected by Baltimore as the 18th-overall selection in the 2008 Draft. He had largely underwhelmed throughout his career, and that included the 2012 regular season.

He only threw 22 touchdown passes, compared to 10 touchdowns. Had it not been for a Hail Mary touchdown pass at the end of regulation against Denver, he may not have had the chance to impress throughout the rest of the postseason.

But Linta never cared about any of that. He obviously had his client’s best interests at heart, and at the end of the day, his belief won out — over the fact that, outside of a few quality playoff performances, Flacco just is not all that great of a quarterback.

And, as much as Linta would like to think he’s not a jackass, well, his quote sort of speaks differently, doesn’t it?