If a realtor had disparaging things to say about you AFTER selling you a new home, would you do business with him or her again?
If you purchased a new car and then overheard the salesperson saying how he or she hosed you by selling the highly profitable extended warranty that you really didn’t need, would you recommend that dealership?
If word got back to you that your girlfriend was only seeing you because you had a nice car, a big bank account and a vacation home would you still want to be with her?
Now, imagine you are Ozzie Newsome and Steve Bisciotti. Your star quarterback’s agent Joe Linta, with whom you just engineered a $120.6M contract after a lengthy negotiating process that made Flacco (at the time) the highest paid player in league history, throws you under the bus.
Linta, who is not very experienced with high-profile free agents, had this to say about his discussions with the Ravens.
“[The dispute was about] $1 million six years from now, in the base salary non-guaranteed money, and they walked away. It cost them $35 million. So I have no sympathy. None.”
And then Linta followed up with this bombshell.
“I’ve never in my life seen a dumber move. I guess people can say, ‘Well, Joe was dumb, too.’ It could have been (dumb), God forbid, if he got hurt. But $1 million to Steve Bisciotti six years from now? That’s like 100 bucks for you or me today.”
Talk about cutting off the hand that feeds you.
If I’m a player who wants to join the Ravens organization, right about now Linta is the last agent I’d be looking to hire.
Despite what sounds like some sloppy happy hour banter in a local pub or at best less than professional behavior from Flacco’s agent, the most disturbing part and perhaps most overlooked part of Linta’s “dumb” soliloquy delivered to USA Today is this:
“I’m not apologetic for the fact this is really a three-year deal, there’s no way they can afford $29 million a couple of years from now,” Linta said. “I’m not apologetic. They chose to walk away.”
So it sounds like the Ravens will have a big problem three years from now if Linta’s attitude today is any indication AND Flacco has 3 very good seasons between now and the $29 million day of reckoning.
If the Ravens aren’t “dumb” (and they’re not), they may be wise to invest a quality pick or two over the next couple of drafts in a quarterback who one day could actually push Flacco.
Clearly such a player isn’t on the roster today.
