The Ravens Double Date
How do Ravens feel to touch? They look like very sleek creatures, very shiny. But are they slimy? Quoth the Baltimore Ravens: “hell yeah we are.”
The Birds committed a ruthless backstab this past week to the Las Vegas Raiders. One of the first big reports of the offseason was a major trade for disgruntled Raiders star Maxx Crosby. Crosby is one of the league’s premier defensive ends and pressure cookers and after being shut down against his will late in the season when the Raiders decided to tank with two pointless games left, he requested to get the hell out of there. The Ravens obliged, sending two first round picks to Vegas for Maxx. Big get! New coach Jesse Minter got a massive piece for his defensive reclamation project.
Then, all of a sudden, the Raiders post an ominous social post saying the Ravens backed out of the trade. It comes out that Crosby “failed his physical” and will not be a Raven. Crosby posts a picture of himself flying back to Vegas on a plane, the Ravens get their first round picks back, and we have to start wiping the floor to clean up all the saliva that slopped out when our jaws hit the ground. What the fuck happened? Was Crosby’s knee injury actually that bad?
Crosby’s benching late in the season, which he objected to, was about his knee injury. It felt like the Raiders were shutting him down to tank, Crosby himself seemed to believe that, protesting his shutdown and posting a video of him playing basketball to pretend his knee was fine. But he did have surgery on the knee, so maybe it actually was pretty bad, and the Ravens saw something they didn’t like. Hell, maybe they pulled a Dolphins Drew Brees. Or maybe, just maybe, they got cold feet and bullshitted an excuse to back out.
Less than 24 hours after the news dropped about the trade falling through, the Ravens have suddenly come to an agreement with former Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson. The contract is basically on par with what they would have been paying Crosby. So, did the Ravens just throw money at Hendrickson the instant Crosby failed his exam? Or did Hendrickson lower his asking price just enough that the Ravens saw that they could get a different star pass rusher for the same price, without giving up the two draft picks, and then purposefully failed Crosby while negotiating the deal with Hendrickson?
I believe the latter, and it would appear a lot of NFL GMs think the same thing. Will Compton, a former player, brought up that this isn’t even the Ravens first time pulling a stunt like this, screwing over Ryan Grant when Michael Crabtree suddenly became available. The Ravens had all the information they needed on Crosby’s knee. I don’t believe the Ravens side of any of this. I think they agreed to date two different guys at the same time so that they could pick which one they wanted. They played both sides, so they could come out on top. They “agreed” to take on Crosby, but kept a separate phone so they could text Hendrickson the whole time, then got confirmation they could actually land Hendrickson, keeping the picks, and then used the knee thing to plausibly back out of the Crosby good faith deal.
Is this illegal? No. The Ravens played this ruthlessly and perfectly. They have enough excuses that can cover their tracks unless some dope just outright says it all in an email somewhere. But backing out on a good-faith trade deal sure makes them look like scummy businessmen. The Raiders, who signed over 200 million dollars worth of massive free agency deals, expecting to not have Maxx Crosby on the books, now suddenly have Maxx Crosby on the books anyway. They might still trade him, but also probably won’t manage to get the same deal for him as other teams will likely use the failed physical as an excuse to lowball their offer. Slimy shit, birds. Slimy.
I’m gonna laugh my ass off if Hendrickson hurts his knee this season.
That’s amazing to hear! They really do seem to enjoy a good preen, and it sounds like the Ravens have a definite attitude.
Yeah, guys fail physicals all the time and doctors can have different options but
It really does feel like they realized they gave up a bit much and took the chance to back out. Since there technically was no paperwork filed there wasn’t even a protest. (I think during the year if a team tried to claim a failed physical the league could bring in independent doctors. It probably would fly here I bet. )
Part of me wonders if the Ravens tried to use the physical to get the price down and the Raiders just went. Nope, even if it goes down it’s not gonna be you.
The Ravens did use independent doctors for Crosby’s physical, and their feedback was what led to the failed physical. Allegedly.
But even in Ravens fan circles, the consensus is that Ozzie Newsome nixed the Ryan Grant signing back in 2018 because it was an overpay for a JAG and Crabtree got released. That one felt SUPER obvious.
What’s interesting is that if you look back farther, the Raiders also did something similar.
In 2014, they signed Rodger Saffold from the Rams to a five year, $42.5 million dollar deal only to back out after the physical. This was after he passed a full physical with the Rams a month prior.
I would say in the case of both Saffold and Grant both teams made the call that was best for them in the long run. Saffold had major surgery that ended his season early, while Grant was not the same player he was beforehand and fell out of the NFL within two years.
I remember the signing and then backing out. Did they immediately sign someone at least close to that level for cheaper? I’m asking honestly because I don’t remember.
This also isn’t really the same thing though. This was a trade. One that likely affected more than a few teams and involved millions of dollars
Ravens firing Harbaugh, then doing this stuff. Really could be a downside starting. Who knows if it really will be but they’ve only had success in their lifetime so far so they’re due for a shitcycle starting. And it’d be a good year to start it. Sorry Lamar, I like you. But now I don’t like the organization
Where’s the yaoi tag?
I still wonder if this is a bit deeper than we think, given that there are credible reports that a minority owner of the Raiders is exerting outsized control and already blocked a Crosby deal.
I know you still hate us because of that super bowl and are inclined to take the “Ravens are slimy bastards” side of this, but I’m personally trusting my org over the Raiders’ high-turnover tire fire and believe that we really did find something. Enjoy the new tight end, punter, safety, and fullback, on the house
The thing about this isn’t JUST the Crosby stuff. It’s how they immediately signed Hendrickson. If they were smart, they would’ve kept it quiet and waited a few days to announce it.
I don’t buy the whole “we wanted them both” bit either. Every team in the NFL would want them both. But it’s just not financially feasible while paying a superstar QB (i’m ignoring the restructure here because I’m not convinced that was part of the whole deal). They couldn’t field a competitive team with those 3 contracts, especially with a rookie head coach.
And DeCosta came across just as poorly as Beane did in Buffalo. It’s actually amazing that two consistently top tier teams GM’s basically look like ass now in the same off season, jettisoning popular coaches who have proven themselves to be successful. Well……in the regular season anyways.
Not illegal. But I imagine there’s some kind of unwritten rule in regards to sportsmanship. The Ravens look like shit after this. A big steamy pile. And I haven’t personally seen a lot of Ravens fans trying to defend it as I think they know how bad this looks. Sometimes, the optics are all that matters because that alone can have a massive influence.
The pissing tree needs to cover this!
Speak of the devil, UT made the video!
Didn’t Ryan Grant end up having his career ended by injuries to the ankle that led to the failed physical? He only played in 16 games after that.
They also backed out of a contract with Michael Brokers, but he was never the same player after that even after he returned to LA. Sometimes have permanent injurie, it doesn’t have to be a conspiracy.
If Maxx Crosby really is healthy the Raiders will still be able to trade him for a large return (It only takes two bidders). The fact that the talk has shifted to him staying on the Raiders and teams like the Cowboys are no longer interested is consistent with their being a real problem.
You mean the team owned by the guy who looks like a used car salesman pulled a move like this?
Burrow’s face in the final panel is my favorite part of this comic.