Joe Flacco dealing with hip injury, could Lamar Jackson get his first start soon?
The Baltimore Ravens season is in turmoil at the midway point. They’ve lost three straight games and four of their last five, coach John Harbaugh is answering questions about his future with the team, and now they may be without their starting quarterback.
Hip injury for Joe Flacco
Via Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic and Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, Joe Flacco is dealing with a hip injury suffered in last Sunday’s game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The Ravens are on their bye this week, but both reporters say there is a question of whether Flacco will be available for Baltimore’s Week 11 game against the Bengals.
The severity of the injury is currently unclear.
First quarter takedown
Zrebiec writes that Flacco was injured on the Ravens’ sixth play last Sunday, when he was driven to the ground by the Steelers’ Stephon Tuitt. Tuitt was flagged for being offsides. But on the next snap, Flacco was hit by Cameron Heyward.
Flacco finished the game and did not miss any plays. However, he kept trying to stretch on the field, and instead of sitting on the bench between offensive possessions, he paced on the sideline. Zrebiec observed Flacco speaking to team trainer Ron Medlin at one point, but he did not leave the field with medical staff.
After the loss, Flacco was asked whether he was affected by the Tuitt hit and said he wasn’t, but he also had a noticeable limp.
Lamar Jackson’s time?
Flacco’s injury comes at an interesting time, especially if it will require him to be sidelined for multiple games.
Harbaugh has already said he wants to see Lamar Jackson get more snaps. To this point, Jackson, the No. 32 pick in this year’s draft, has been used as a decoy or on running plays, and is second on the team in rushing yards.
While Flacco has three years remaining on his contract, it’s not completely unreasonable for the Ravens to cut him in 2019. If the team used the post-June 1 designation, it would carry $8 million in dead money for his contract.
Flacco is currently set to earn $18.5 million in base salary in 2019.
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