The Baltimore Ravens' Joe Flacco

The Baltimore Ravens have traded former BYU quarterback John Beck to Washington in exchange for cornerback Doug Dutch. Beck, 28, was expected to battle Troy Smith for a spot on the Ravens' active roster, behind  and Marc Bulger.

After the trade was completed, the Redskins released third-year QB Colt Brennan. Considered Washington's QB of the future not all that long ago, Brennan never threw a regular-season pass and spent all of 2009 on injured reserve.

Beck has not played in a regular-season game since 2007, his rookie season out of BYU, when he started four games for the Dolphins. In his brief audition, Beck completed 60 of 107 pass attempts for 559 yards and one TD. He did not see action for Miami in 2008, nor for Baltimore in 2009.

From 2003-2006 at BYU, Beck threw for 11,021 yards and 79 touchdowns. Beck trails only Heisman Trophy winner Ty Detmer on the school's all-time passing yards list.
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The first two years of the John Harbaugh/Joe Flacco era have shown that the Baltimore Ravens have found the right combination at head coach and quarterback. The 2010 season will reveal whether or not the team has assembled the necessary supporting cast to soar to even greater heights.
Back-to-back playoff appearances and three postseason wins over the past two seasons had already generated lofty expectations for this year's Ravens, who'll return all but one starter from a group that delivered nine regular- season victories and reached the Divisional Round of the 2009 AFC Playoffs. But when general manager Ozzie Newsome swung a trade to land standout wide receiver Anquan Boldin in March, the stakes were raised even higher.

Boldin should give Baltimore what it's been lacking for seemingly forever, a quality complement to the remarkably steady Derrick Mason at the wideout spot. With the addition of the physical three-time Pro Bowl honoree and veteran speedster Donte' Stallworth, along with the emergence of third-year pro Ray Rice into an elite all-around running back and Joe Flacco continued progress as a passer, the Ravens now field what could be one of the more balanced and dangerous offenses the league has to offer.

Baltimore's calling card has always come on the defensive end, however, and the 2009 squad continued the Ravens' longstanding tradition of excellence by ranking among the NFL's best in virtually every major category. The unit is getting a bit long in the tooth at several positions, but Newsome addressed those concerns by overseeing another potentially fruitful draft that garnered University of Texas outside linebacker Sergio Kindle and mammoth Alabama nose tackle Terrence Cody with the team's top two picks.

Kindle, considered one of the top available pass rushers among this year's college crop, suffered a fractured skull in an accident at a friend's home just prior to training camp, however, putting the rookie in jeopardy of missing the upcoming season. His injury was one of several bad breaks the Ravens endured over the summer, as perennial All-Pro safety Ed Reed may be sidelined until mid-October after undergoing hip surgery in the spring and Domonique Foxworth, Baltimore's best cover cornerback, is out for the year after tearing his ACL during the early stages of camp.