"The Competition" is a series that breaks down every position battle leading up to training camp.
Returning Players
Joe Flacco (6-foot-6, 245 pounds, seventh season): Coming off his Super Bowl MVP performance, Flacco posted a career-low quarterback rating (73.1) and threw the most interceptions (22) of his career. Flacco is looking to turn that around in new Offensive Coordinator Gary Kubiak's system. Flacco likes how Kubiak's offense*fits him and has drawn positive reviews so far this summer. * !
Tyrod Taylor (6-1, 215, fourth season): Taylor is heading into a contract year, and may get the stiffest competition he's had to date. Taylor hasn't always shined during his limited opportunities. In two games when Taylor has seen action the past two years, he's had an interception returned for a touchdown in each. Baltimore would also like to get another quarterback ready for the possibility of Taylor leaving after this year.
Rookies
Keith Wenning (6-3, 220): The sixth-round pick out of Ball State showed he's a good fit for Kubiak's system so far this summer. He's accurate on short-to-intermediate passes and throws a nice, arcing deep pass. Wenning showed good feet moving around as well. He didn't show the same arm strength as Flacco or Taylor, but Wenning has a lot of upside and could grow with Kubiak.
Frontrunners
Flacco is the franchise quarterback and that's not going to change. As long as he's healthy enough to play, he's the starter. The question is what would happen if Flacco were to go down.
Taylor would usually hold an advantage because he knows the system, but with Kubiak's new system, Taylor and Wenning are at about the same starting place. Taylor has some more experience, but it's not a lot (13 games and 35 passing attempts in three years).
The Ravens could opt to keep three quarterbacks for the first time since 2009 when they had Flacco, Troy Smith and John Beck. That way, they could have Taylor's experience and Wenning could develop for a year and possibly take over as the backup in 2015.
