One Idea for a Joe Flacco Restructure

As the two sides, the Ravens and the representatives of Team Joe Flacco, this weekend in Indianapolis, the topic of a restructure of his contract will be on the table.

Mind you, Joe has no obligation whatsoever to restructure. He is under contract and has done nothing to violate its terms. He could just walk away and say, "No thank you." Or even, "No."

Do you think that he will?

Anyone who has seen his competitive fire, his desire to get the ball with 2 minutes left, his guts galore in even attempting throws like the Mile High Miracle, knows that Joe Flacco loves to win.

He has also proven to be a team player. He does not publicly berate his teammates. He takes blame with the best of 'em. He gives guys a chance to make a play, no matter who they are.

I think he will, and there seems to be a simple idea to at least give a reprieve for this season. Let's look at it.

Joe Flacco is set to make $28,550,000 in 2016. His base salary is $18,000,000 with the rest coming as a signing bonus and an option bonus.

What if the Ravens took $15 million of that $18 million base and made it a signing bonus? That way, he would immediately get $15 million (he has already gotten an initial signing bonus of  $25 million, which was prorated over these 5 years), and have a base salary of 3 million. That signing bonus would then be prorated over the next 5 years, so only 3 million of it would count against the cap this season.  Therefore, approximately $12 million dollars would be freed up for the team to pursue other personnel upgrades to help Cool Joe.

I did not include the Dead Cap Money, because Joe is not getting cut. That amount is the total amount of money that a player has been paid, plus the amount of his guaranteed money left, minus the cap hit heretofore.

Can anyone argue against getting an immediate $15 million in the bank? This doesn't hurt Joe, it is a boon, and it would help the Ravens tremendously.

See the chart below to visually decipher this idea:

Chart from the excellence of SPOTRAC, with the exception of the added area

I didn't even bother with the years to come yet. There would need to be an extension of the contract and an dissemination of the signing bonus money over the next 4 seasons. This window is solely for this season.

The other part of this scenario includes added years and more guaranteed money for Flacco. Fair asks for the veteran QB, in selfless mode.

What do you think Joe will do? Will he sign an extension and restructure? Will he walk off into that not-so-good-for-the-Ravens-in-this-case night? Vote below.

And say your prayers that the Ravens get this done, if they are to be as active in Free Agency as Ozzie Newsome predicted.