After one minicamp, the Baltimore Ravens know what they have in quarterback Joe Flacco, and it's all good. They like his temperament. They like his command of the huddle. And they love his arm.

What they don't know is how soon the guy starts, and that's what this summer is all about.

Joe Flacco makes a nice first impression at minicamp. (AP)

Once I thought that was unimaginable. Remember, Harbaugh broke into the pros with Andy Reid's staff in Philadelphia, and, like Harbaugh, Reid's first draft pick was a quarterback. That was Donovan McNabb, the second choice in the 1999 draft, and Reid kept him buried on the depth chart until the second half of the season.

It's a familiar script followed by others, including the New York Giants with Eli Manning, and I thought it would be what happened here. But everything is flexible in Baltimore, where Flacco, Boller and Smith go into training camp competing for a wide-open job.

Now, let's be honest here: Boller and Smith have the edge because of their experience. In fact, if I were to guess now I'd say one of them winds up starting the season opener, with Flacco third on the depth chart.

But I don't know that, and I don't know that because John Harbaugh doesn't know that. He could follow the Reid blueprint that worked so well with McNabb, but he won't.

"We're not taking that approach," he said. "Circumstances probably will dictate what you try to do. I'm kind of an Adam Smith kind of guy. You know, the invisible hand of God? We're going to have everyone go out there, and let it shake itself out."

Of course, we all know Flacco will prevail in the end, but that's not the concern here. It's how quickly he develops and how soon the Ravens feel comfortable starting him, and both could take awhile.

And that's OK because if there's one thing you should know about Harbaugh, it's that he will have patience with Flacco. He doesn't believe in starting someone just because the he's a first-round draft choice, the season is lost or fans demand a change.

If Joe Flacco isn't ready, he sits. Simple as that.

"Too many guys failed because they were pushed to start before they were ready," said Harbaugh.

Amen. So the Ravens will be careful with Flacco and not allow what happened to Boller to happen to him. Boller was the 19th pick of the 2003 draft and, frankly, was pushed to start before he was ready.

He opened the first nine games that season for the Ravens, winning five, before he was sidelined by a thigh injury. That's the good news. The bad is that he was never allowed to learn under an experienced quarterback or to develop slowly, and both became obstacles that held him back.

Result: The Ravens lost so much faith in him they made Flacco the 18th pick of this year's draft, one round higher than most boards ranked him.

Sure, Boller is still in the picture, but when you talk to people in and around the organization, they speak more of Smith's chances to succeed now than they do Boller. Maybe it's because Smith is newer, younger and more of a mystery, or maybe it's because someone decided Boller isn't salvageable.

I don't know. What I do know is that there is no fixed starter in Baltimore, even though Flacco made a terrific impression with his coaches and teammates last weekend when he showed the poise, the confidence and, yes, the big arm that drew the Ravens to him.

There was one throw on a deep comeback, for instance, where cornerback Chris McAllister waited on what he thought was a sure deflection or interception. Instead, the ball sailed by him and into the hands of Flacco's target.

There was another toss to Mark Clayton, only this time it was a bomb that hit the wide receiver in stride deep down the field.

"He throws like Carson Palmer a little bit to me," cornerback Samari Rolle told the Carroll County Times.

OK, so Flacco sometimes held the ball in the face of blitzes, with coaches imploring him to get rid of it once he recognized what was coming. Flacco nodded, then followed directions.

"He was starting to get it," said Harbaugh.

The question, of course, is how soon he gets it, and we won't know that for months. What I like is that no one -- not Joe Flacco, not John Harbaugh, not the Baltimore coaching staff and not the Ravens' front office -- is squeezing the rookie quarterback to be armed for a Sept. 7 start.

Instead, the Ravens want to get a long look at Flacco during exhibition games, with the quarterback probably taking more turns at the wheel than Smith or Boller.

But expect nothing more because the Ravens don't. At least for now.