That day, Joe Flacco became Cam Cameron’s guy.
It was apparent that Flacco’s personality wasn’t “rah rah” or demonstrative but Jackson had seen that before. Flacco was more like Hue’s former protégé Palmer at USC. Quiet. Not a strong outward presence, but a strong competitor inside, not unlike Troy Aikman, Jackson thought.
So, if the Ravens couldn’t get Matt Ryan and had to take their second choice at quarterback, would Flacco be a guy they felt could get them to a Super Bowl?
The more the Ravens saw of Brian Brohm from Louisville, the less they liked him. They were concerned about his arm strength and personality. There’s no way they’d feel good about drafting him and having hopes of winning a Super Bowl. Chad Henne was clearly better than Brohm, but still not an ideal choice for the Ravens. They felt he was a second round guy with warts.
Meanwhile, Matt Ryan was almost flawless.
The Ravens attended Ryan’s workout and were extremely impressed. Cameron didn’t love Ryan’s arm strength and no one in the organization liked the idea of trading multiple draft picks to get Ryan if Flacco was available. Cameron also saw Flacco’s arm strength and ability to play in foul weather as a major factor in the AFC North.
Flacco was more of a “project,” but the more they investigated the kid from Audubon, N.J. in the shadow of downtown Philadelphia, the more impressed they were and the more they began to research the obvious question: “What’s a kid this good doing at Delaware to begin with and what the hell happened at Pitt?”
Flacco was lightly recruited in his junior year at Audubon, with only Keeler and Delaware really interested initially. However, during his senior season as the passing yards added up, major schools took interest in a 6-foot-6 quarterback who could throw the football a mile. Iowa, Rutgers, and Pittsburgh were all in the mix and all recruiting Flacco, which always means recruiting the Flacco family in his household, where his father Steve was a college athlete as well.
Late that year, Flacco chose the University of Pittsburgh after being recruited by head coach Walt Harris, and he redshirted in 2003. After his second season, Harris was fired and former NFL coach Dave Wannstadt became the Panthers head coach. Flacco was second on the depth chart behind Tyler Palko and asked Wannstadt for a transfer release. Pitt had already lost one quarterback from their depth chart when Luke Getsy left the Panthers for Akron after 2003. Wanting to keep Flacco as insurance and depth, Wannstadt denied his transfer request and Flacco called Keeler at Delaware to rekindle their relationship from his junior year of high school knowing that he’d have to take another year off and that Keeler couldn’t give him a scholarship.
