Ravens’ QB Flacco signs NFL’S richest deal

OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Joe Flacco knows his stature as the highest-paid player in NFL history may not last for long, and he’s OK with it.

What matters most to the Super Bowl MVP is that the Baltimore Ravens were willing to pay him that kind of money in the first place.

Flacco signed his new contract Monday worth $120.6 million over six years. He will receive a $29 million signing bonus, $52 million in guaranteed money and $51 million over the first two years of the deal.

The former first-round draft pick out of Delaware is the first starting quarterback in NFL history to make the playoffs in each of his first five seasons. He’s led the Ravens to nine wins over that span, tying Tom Brady for most among quarterbacks in the first five years of a career.

Flacco threw 11 TD passes and no interceptions during the recent postseason and led Baltimore to a 34-31 Super Bowl win over San Francisco.

And it all made the Ravens willing to pay him more money than Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, Drew Brees or any other of the great quarterbacks in the game today.

“When guys that are drafted in the first round, when guys that win football games for you, quarterbacks like that, when the time comes up for those guys to get paid, they usually become the highest paid guy in the league,” Flacco said

DEVELOPMENTS

Titans don’t use franchise tag: The Tennessee Titans did not use their franchise tag, a move letting tight end Jared Cook and kicker Rob Bironas among their pending free agents hit the market.

The deadline to designate players with the franchise tag was Monday afternoon. The Titans announced their decision on Twitter.

A dispute loomed over what position Cook actually gets over the difference between the $6.06 million this season he would have been due if the Titans used the franchise tag on him as a tight end compared to the $10.5 million a receiver designated a franchise player receives in 2013.

Cowboys f ranchise Spencer: The Cowboys are putting the franchise tag on Anthony Spencer for the second straight year, this time after he boosted his bargaining power with his best season in Dallas. The team announced the move Monday and Spencer’s agent, Jordan Woy, wrote in a tweet that negotiations on a long-term contract would continue for the Cowboys’ 2012 sacks leader. Spencer had a career-high 11.