OWINGS MILLS — Several hours before the NFL draft started Thursday night, the Baltimore Ravens’ primary decision makers discussed trading back in the first round.
There was interest. “We always have interest in moving back,” Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said later. But it would have taken an overwhelming offer for Baltimore to give up the 17th overall pick, and that offer never came.
In recent weeks, the Ravens had gotten calls from teams interested in trading up to acquire the pick, and they received calls for the first four minutes they were on the clock Thursday. But eventually, the phone stopped ringing and the Ravens decided to keep the pick and take Alabama inside linebacker C.J. Mosley.
“What happens is, when we got to our pick, we went on the clock, the phones were ringing and we were taking all the calls,” Newsome said. “And when we knew we had a player that was rated higher than where he was getting picked, we were willing to accept all the calls and see if we could get a bonanza. That bonanza never came, the phones stopped ringing, and at that point we called C.J.”
