Every NFL team’s worst trade of all-time (Updated)
By Randy Gurzi
Baltimore Ravens: Move for Kyle Boller
For years, there was a constant debate about whether Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco elite. He led the team to a Super Bowl, which gave his supporters all the ammunition they needed to support their belief. Still, his play doesn’t always pass the eye test, which gives the other side a valid point.
Wherever you stand on that debate, it’s not likely that any person out there can say Flacco isn’t the best quarterback the team has had since they moved from Cleveland and changed their name. For whatever reason, they struggled to find someone under center for years, even though they were winning.
For example, Trent Dilfer played quarterback when they won their first Super Bowl and he was replaced the following season by Elvis Grbac. They also tried a couple of veteran options like Randall Cunningham and Steve McNair as their careers winded down.
Mixed in with those guys, the Ravens tried another pre-Flacco option in Kyle Boller. The former Cal gunslinger was acquired via a trade in which the Ravens gave up a second-round pick and a future first-round selection to get the No. 19 overall pick. While Boller possessed a strong arm, he wasn’t an accurate passer at all.
He wound up playing five seasons in Baltimore and had a losing record of 20-22 for them. He then spent time with the then St. Louis Rams and the Oakland Raiders, going 0-5 as a starter in those two spots combined.
While the move for Boller was bad, they may have actually done better than they hoped for. Originally, they tried to get into the top-10 for Byron Leftwich, who ended up with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
An issue with the phones apparently screwed up that trade, but Leftwich wasn’t much better than Boller — and it could have set them back even further considering how much more it would have cost to move into such a premium spot for the Marshall product.
So, while we still don’t know how Flacco will be remembered years from now, we do know he ended a rather ugly drought that included a pretty rough trade.