Ravens camp report: Flacco's future bright, so handle with care

Editor's note: Clark Judge and Pete Prisco are traveling to every NFL training camp and filing daily reports and analysis. Next camp report from Judge: Bengals.

Ravens: Five things to know | Judge

WESTMINSTER, Md. -- Sooner or later, Joe Flacco quarterbacks the Baltimore Ravens. We all know that. But here's my question: Where's the experienced backup to act as a mentor, a safety net, an insurance policy, if Flacco trips along the way?

Flacco wowed Ravens scouts with his accuracy and poise at Delaware. (AP)

It's not Kyle Boller. It's not Troy Smith. And Steve McNair checked out of class months ago.

So who is it?

I'll tell you whom: Cam Cameron. You heard me: Cam Cameron, the team's offensive coordinator and maybe, just maybe, Flacco's ticket to stardom.

"In this league," Cameron said, "you wouldn't want it any other way. You take your quarterback and then build around him."

Cameron and coach Marty Schottenheimer did just that in San Diego where Cameron tutored Philip Rivers and, before that, Drew Brees. All of them put the Chargers back on the map, and if Cameron can do for the Ravens what he did for the Bolts we might have a traffic jam at the top of the AFC North.

Let's face it, we all know what the knock is ... and has been ... on the Ravens: They don't have a quarterback they can trust. And they haven't since, well, since ... Vinny Testaverde?

Only that might be about to change. The Ravens think so, and if you spend time watching practices at McDaniel College, you might think so, too.

Flacco alternates snaps with Boller and Smith but looks superior to both, making accurate deep throws, hitting sideline patterns and making plays on the run. More than that, he shows uncanny poise for a rookie out of Delaware.

"When I think of Joe Flacco," linebacker Ray Lewis said, "I think of straight charisma and someone who wants to be good. Joe doesn't come out here and go through the motions, and that motivates me."

Now let's dissect that sentence for a moment: Here we have Ray Lewis, one of the best players on one of the best defenses, talking about a quarterback ... a rookie quarterback ... he admires and respects so much it motivates him to be better?

Wow. Maybe the Ravens do have something special in Flacco, but they better be careful how they develop him. I remember the last time the club drafted a big-armed quarterback and rolled him out there -- hoping, wanting and needing him to be The Guy.

But it didn't happen, and Kyle Boller can be forgiven if he wonders how his career might have changed if the Ravens mentored him from the beginning.

"I don't know if starting Kyle from the very first day was the right thing," general manager Ozzie Newsome said, "especially with where this team was.

"I talked to Brian (Billick, the Ravens' former head coach) about this, and we pitted him against Chris (Redman) when he should've been up against Anthony Wright, a guy who played. So that's our fault. But it happened.

"The other thing was there was not a mentor in the room. There will be a veteran here but not this year; it will be in 2009. With where we are right now, we need to determine between Kyle and Troy who's going to be the guy who will give us the best chance to win if Joe's not ready right away."

Translation: There is no predetermined plan, and you'll have to trust me on this one. The Ravens honest to goodness have no idea who starts at quarterback for their Sept. 7 opener, though the smart money is on Smith -- with Flacco waiting his turn.

Which is where Cameron comes in.

This is not Brees holding off Rivers. In all likelihood, this could be Troy Smith, a quarterback with two career starts, keeping the position warm until Flacco is ready -- with Cameron and quarterbacks coach Hue Jackson prepping him for the inevitable call.

"Any more voices than that are just too many," coach John Harbaugh said. "If we knew who the right guy was (to mentor Flacco), we might consider it. But I don't know who that guy is right now."

Nobody does, and that's why Cameron's value cannot be undersold. He has a history of developing young quarterbacks, something that wasn't lost on Harbaugh when he hired him, and he has the trust of the young quarterbacks trying to absorb his offense.

"He's as sharp as they come," Boller said. "He's been around, he's established, and he made guys great. If you're not going to look up to someone like that I don't know whom you're going to look up to.

"You talk about bringing in a veteran player, but that's not necessary because he's the best resource. And if you don't use him you're hurting yourself.

"I mean, he's been a coach for many, many years, worked with a lot of great quarterbacks and took guys who couldn't do something and made them into something. Well, then, use him, pick his brain and you might be going in the right direction."

That's the idea here. The Ravens last year ranked 23rd in passing, and their 13 touchdown passes were among the fewest in the game. So something had to be done, and something was: The Ravens not only found a new quarterback; they found a new offensive staff.

Now, I know what you're thinking: How do we know Flacco won't be Boller or that he can do for Baltimore what Boller could not?

"You can't be sure," Newsome said. "I was having lunch with (Cleveland general manager) Phil Savage this summer, and we both said, 'If our two young quarterbacks don't pan out then we'll be at different addresses.' And we know it.

"But you learn from your mistakes, and I still think in this business you learn more about what not to do, and that's what makes you better."

Cameron believes so much in Flacco, he had him, not Boston College's Matt Ryan, ranked as the top quarterback in this year's draft -- and not so much because of his strong arm but because of his accuracy.

You can see it in practice, and you could see it when Flacco worked out for the Ravens. According to people who were there, he threw 150 passes -- with two hitting the ground.

"I was there for his game (last season) against Richmond," said Ravens' scout Joe Douglas, who brought Flacco to the team's attention, "and it was a great, great game. Delaware ended up losing (62-56 in five overtimes), but there was no quit in him. Every time they were down he would bring them back.

"So I told Ozzie and Eric (DeCosta, the team's director of college scouting) that we need to know this guy. He's got serious ability, but, more than that, he has remarkable poise."

He also has a future, with the Ravens determined to get this one right. But they must step carefully. They don't have a veteran to school Flacco, but they do have Cameron and Jackson.

"There is no real book on this stuff," Cameron said. "A lot of this is 'feel' and changes from day to day. But you have to communicate with (your quarterbacks) and make sure they communicate with you; make sure they're telling you exactly what they're seeing and not sugar-coating it."

Well, I can tell you exactly what Baltimore sees. If Flacco works out as the Ravens expect ... if he is brought along carefully, patiently and thoughtfully ... if he is afforded the resources Boller was not ... they have themselves a franchise quarterback for the foreseeable future.

Tell me the last time you heard that around here.

"If we get this one right," Newsome said, "we're going to be tough to beat."