Just the other day a “report” surfaced that the Ravens were one of three teams interested in wide receiver Michael Crabtree. Fans and even many in the media will run with such reports.
And then suddenly the story gets legs.
Few question the origins of the report.
Many times such stories are tales woven by player agents looking to keep their clients’ names relevant and to create negotiating leverage. Sometimes it works. Sometimes the media members don’t even realize they are being played. It can increase a player’s odds of signing, perhaps even outpacing the latest Ravens odds and stats.
Maybe that worked in the case of Crabtree. Hours after it was announced that the Ravens were in the mix – BOOM! Crabtree is signed by the Oakland Raiders.
It’s unlikely that the Ravens targeted Crabtree. He’s really not a good fit in Baltimore. There are better and more complementary receivers in the 2015 NFL Draft.
Speaking of the draft, it’s interesting how much stock analysts and league observers put into player visits to respective teams. Such visits could be to address character or medical concerns not completely revealed during the NFL Combines. It could also be a smokescreen.
Take for instance Dorial Green-Beckham.
Ozzie Newsome is on record saying that the Ravens would have difficulty bringing in a player with a history of domestic violence.
“Steve [Bisciotti] said this back during the season: The one area we will definitely take a hard look – and it will be tough for us to bring a player to Baltimore – is someone who has domestic abuse in their background.”
#Ravens bringing DGB in is a slap in the face (no pun intended) to those who believed they were trying to get better on DV issues.
— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) April 8, 2015
Drafting DGB would bring more undesirable attention to the franchise and it would undoubtedly place a rookie wide receiver, a year removed from seeing the football field, under the microscope. It would also further damage the team’s goodwill, one that took a severe beating (no pun intended) in 2014.
So why then did DGB visit the Ravens?
The guess here is that the Ravens are hoping to force the hand of a team that drafts ahead of them. Perhaps they are hoping to sway the fence sitters on DGB and inspire the thought, “Well, if the Ravens are considering DGB despite the red flags and the hit they took on the Ray Rice debacle, maybe they think this guy can REALLY play!”
Then there’s this talk about Melvin Gordon and the Ravens at No. 26.
I’m not buying that one either.
The Cowboys would love to have Gordon to replace the departed DeMarco Murray. They sit one pick behind the Ravens at No. 27. If the Ravens throw off the scent of feigned interest in Gordon at No. 26, the hope might be to force the Cowboys to move up ahead of them, select Gordon, and then push another player that the Ravens covet further down the board.
NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah, a former Ravens west coast scout, has Ozzie & Company selecting Gordon at No. 26. Isn’t it possible that the Ravens made overtures about Gordon to Jeremiah hoping that he would talk it up on national TV hoping the Cowboys might bite?
By roughly 11PM on Thursday, April 30, 2015, neither will be a Raven even if BOTH are still on the board.
But hey, who knows?
Maybe I’m being played too!
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