Somehow, some way, the term ‘elite’ was derisively connected to Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, who has never been elite outside of the postseason of the 2012 season. It pretty much gets brought up every time Flacco becomes a topic of conversation outside of Baltimore. We have certainly referenced it on numerous occasions.
Now that he is likely going to be traded to the Denver Broncos, provided that the deal doesn’t fall through by the time it can be made official in March, I have one final parting shot to offer Flacco. It turns out, he is elite at one thing, which is not being selected for Pro Bowls.
According to a Tweet from Adam Schefter, nobody in NFL history has thrown more passes for more yards or more touchdowns than has Flacco without having ever been selected for the Pro Bowl. ESPN Ravens beat writer Jamison Hensley clarified that he was twice asked to participate as an alternate but declined; however, the point still stands that he has never been selected for the Pro Bowl.
New Broncos’ QB Joe Flacco has the most career passing attempts (5,670), passing yards (38,245) and passing TDs (212) by any player never selected to a Pro Bowl.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 13, 2019
And so out of morbid curiosity I got to thinking about where Flacco stands all-time now that he is 11 seasons into his career. At the moment, Flacco ranks 22nd all-time in passing yardage with 38,526. He is the only quarterback in the top 30 to have not gone to a Pro Bowl, with Steve DeBerg at 31 being the first to join him in that lack of honor. He is one of only four players in the top 50 in passing yardage to not make a Pro Bowl, also joined by Joe Ferguson and Jon Kitna. But Kitna won the World Bowl MVP Award in the first incarnation of NFL Europe.
Flacco actually ranks 17th in pass attempts all-time with 5670 for his career. Once again, it’s DeBerg all the way back at 28 as the first player to join him in having not made a Pro Bowl, and also one of four in the top 50. I don’t know what Schefter didn’t mention completions as well, but the same story holds there, except Ferguson is not in the top 50 in attempts, so only three quarterbacks in the top 50 have failed to make a Pro Bowl.
And then there is touchdowns. Flacco is currently tied with Terry Bradshaw for 34th all-time in touchdowns with 212. Everybody who has thrown more has gone to the Pro Bowl. Only three of the top 50 haven’t, including Flacco.
His career quarterback rating right now is at 84.1, which ranked tied with Eli Manning (wow) for 42nd all-time. Admittedly, there are several ahead of him who have not gone to the Pro Bowl, but that speaks to two things, one being just how low he is on the list, and the other being the fact that others don’t have enough longitudinal data to compare. The outlier is Chad Pennington, who still has the 14th-best passer rating ever.
And now he’s all yours, Emmanuel Sanders.
