Anonymous GM Blasts Ravens after Botched Trade: “You Have to Know Who You’re Dealing With”
The Ravens have a reputation of using physicals to wiggle out of trades and according to league insider Jason La Canfora, the Raiders are just the latest to get burned by the current brass in Baltimore.
“Multiple general managers and top execs told me they strongly believed the Ravens, after losing a bevvy of core players early in free agency, and finding the market for pass rusher Trey Hendrickson softer than some expected, simply pivoted to the cheaper alternative and used the medicals as an excuse,” La Canfora reported on Thursday.
“A combination of ‘cold feet’ and ‘total bull***’ is how the industry viewed the Ravens actions, but it hardly came as a surprise to many of them, and, those execs believe, should not have shocked the Raiders, either.”
“‘You have to know who you’re dealing with,’ said one NFL general manager who was pursuing Crosby as well. The NFL GM continued: ‘Those guys have used the physical to get out of deals before. They had never traded a one (first-round pick) for a player, ever, and now they’re going to trade two for a 29-year-old coming off surgery? The agents knew there was a chance Baltimore would pull out of this thing. It’s not like it’s out of character.’”
It’s worth noting that La Canfora seems to have an awful relationship with the current leadership in the Ravens’ building (and he’s an interesting character himself), but it doesn’t mean the report isn’t accurate. The majority of the league, outside of those most likely working to keep sources in the Ravens’ building, seems to be in agreement on the stunt the Ravens pulled last week.
Not only did Ravens GM Eric DeCosta disrespect Crosby by not meeting with him during his five-hour visit, but there’s also a good chance the Ravens had moved on from Crosby before he even entered the building.
On Wednesday, The Athletic’s Dianna Russini said that while Crosby was in the Ravens’ facility on Tuesday, the Ravens were already reaching out to Trey Hendrickson’s representatives to work out a deal.
“I think the reason why the Ravens are taking so much heat and why the Raiders are obviously mad about this is it seems fishy that Trey Hendrickson… that those conversations started yesterday,” Russini said on the Rich Eisen Show.
“I can tell you that the Ravens spoke to Trey Hendrickson yesterday while Maxx Crosby was in the building. So that tells you that they were aware that something was going on… Maxx Crosby was there not knowing he was a dead man walking, that this was not going to be his team. That’s the problem here.”
x: @raidersbeat
