Flacco Deal "In Essence" Is For Three Years

Not likely, according to NFL.com's Albert Breer, who notes the breakdown of the deal in a recent story. Breer states that the deal will pay Baltimore Ravens QB Joe Flacco a $29 million signing bonus, $30 million paid in year one, $52 in year 2, and $60 over the first three years.

However, the contract calls for a $29 million salary in year four, meaning that unless, Breer states, the NFL salary cap "explodes," it won't be workable and will need to be re-structured at that point.

The good news is that Flacco's cap hit in 2013 is only $6.8 million, which will give the Ravens a lot more flexibility in signing their own free agents as well as others on the market. Initially, the thought was that the team would be in salary cap "prison" and forced to not only let some of their Super Bowl-winning contributing players walk, but also make them bypass other veteran free agents that they might otherwise covet.

The good news is for the immediate future of at least three years, Joe will get a ton of money and the Ravens will not be handcuffed to a contract that was previously thought to paralyze the team in what they would be able to do with the other players whose contracts are either up, would have been in the next year or so, or perhaps even those current ones that the team might not be able to afford to keep.