At this point last year, Joe Flacco had 1,189 passing yards. He had thrown eight interceptions and just five touchdowns. Flacco had a game against the Jacksonville Jaguars in which he threw for 28 yards. He failed to reach 200 passing yards in all but two games as the Ravens reached a 3-4 record.
At the end of the season the Ravens thought they needed a quarterback of the future. They weren’t ready to end the Flacco era just yet (though contractually it wasn’t really a choice) but they knew they needed an escape route. The drafting of Lamar Jackson was incredibly justified by the Ravens.