Should Joe Flacco Be The Highest Paid NFL Player?
By: Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco doesn't seek out the limelight.
So, what does he do now that he has a Super Bowl ring and the moniker of MVP of the NFL's biggest game?
According to his agent Joe Linta, Flacco will play football and be with his family. But because of what happened on Sunday, a lot of people want him to be a lot more.
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"He immediately becomes a national figure," Linta told CNBC. "If he had walked down the street in Chicago last week, probably no one would know him.
"Now, everyone is going to know him because the Super Bowl is a marketer's dream."
Except Joe Flacco is not a marketers dream.
The phone has been ringing constantly, but Linta isn't in a position to move forward with many of them.
"He really doesn't have an interest in that type of thing," Linta said. "He really disdains selling himself for these endorsements.
"I don't know that he won't do ANYTHING ... but I can't sit here and say, 'why would you want to turn down $100,000 for this or $200,000 for that'. He's a football player and a good father and husband."
According to Linta, there's a good chance that the money he's leaving on the table tops seven figures.
Having said all that, it's a far different story when it comes to his PLAYING contract.
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Flacco made $7 million this season and is set to be a free agent. By all accounts, he wants to remain in Baltimore, and the team wants to keep him.
When asked whether Flacco should be the highest paid quarterback in the NFL, Linta simply said: "YES."
That would mean more than the $18 million Denver paid Peyton Manning this season, or the $20 million a year that Drew Brees is averaging in New Orleans.
He's younger than both. He's won as much as they have. And Flacco is just heading into the peak of his career.
"When you do a contract of this magnitude, you look at what is the player's body of work presently," Linta said. "And what are the expectations going forward over the next four, five or six years.
"Joe wins on both accounts."
As for Linta, there's a sense of pride when he talks about player's like Flacco, who wasn't exactly a household name coming out of Delaware. Linta played and coached football and has carved out a niche, finding stars in unlikely places.
He found Ravens center Matt Birk out of Harvard. And he found Flacco in a state more known for it's business laws than for its quarterbacks.
"I think what happened on Sunday, I was proud and happy to see great things happen to great people," Linta said.
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—By CNBC's Brian Shactman; Follow him on Twitter: @bshactman
