Tyrod Taylor Has Turned Out to Be a Much Better Quarterback Than Joe Flacco
In 2015, the Baltimore Ravens let Tyrod Taylor, the backup to Joe Flacco, go to free agency. Taylor quickly inked a pact with the Buffalo Bills, a team sorely in need of a quality quarterback.
Letting Taylor walk was fait accompli. The Ravens had already signed Flacco, their franchise quarterback, to a 6-year, $120 million deal in 2013 after winning the Super Bowl. They were all but stuck with the former Super Bowl MVP.
Halfway through the 2017 season, it's apparent that choosing Flacco over Taylor is looking like a bad call.
Below Average Joe
Flacco is having the worst campaign of his career and is 2017's worst-rated passer, according to our in-house Net Expected Points (NEP) metric. (For more information on NEP, visit our glossary.)
Flacco's Passing NEP per drop back is -0.16 -- this means that each time he drops back to pass, he is hurting the Ravens' chances of scoring. For reference, the league average Passing NEP per drop back in 2016 was 0.12.
Unsurprisingly, this poor play has cratered Baltimore's offense. The Ravens currently rank 31st in the NFL in yards per play at just 4.4 yards per play. Baltimore ranks dead last in passing yards per completion at 7.5 yards.
This kind of play is especially hard to swallow for the Ravens when you consider that Flacco accounts for 15.5% of his team's salary cap.
Comparing to Tyrod
Even though Taylor is known for doing damage as a runner, he has actually been a better passer than Flacco since joining the Bills. While their playing styles differ greatly, Taylor has outperformed Flacco -- per our numbers -- by a vast margin.
These statistics are from the beginning of the 2015 season through Week 7 of the 2017 campaign.
| Name | Drop Backs | Passing NEP | Passing NEP Per Drop Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Flacco | 1,375 | 16.68 | 0.01 |
| Tyrod Taylor | 1,085 | 156.62 | 0.14 |
While Taylor has dropped back fewer times than Flacco, Tyrod has been far more efficient. What's so scary about this is that Taylor is more known for his rushing abilities, but he has still easily bested Flacco in the passing department.
Let's take a look at the rushing statistics.
As you'd expect, Taylor wins this battle handily. Once again, these numbers are from the start of the 2015 season up through Week 7 of 2017.
| Name | Rushes | Rushing NEP | Rushing NEP/P |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Flacco | 29 | 0.6 | 0.02 |
| Tyrod Taylor | 208 | 66.83 | 0.32 |
Taylor has averaged nearly an expected points per every three rushes since joining the Bills.
In Summary
The chart below best explains each player's contributions to their respective teams since parting ways.
Taylor and Flacco are two players going in completely opposite directions. Even worse for the Ravens, Flacco is four years older than Taylor and has been regressing for years.
It has become more glaring this season, with the Bills sitting at 5-2 while the Ravens are just 4-4.
General manager Ozzie Newsome and the Ravens have made many plenty of fantastic personnel decisions over the years which have led to two Super Bowl titles, but opting to overpay Flacco and let Taylor walk may have been their worst move.
