michael crabtree
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Former Raiders WR Michael Crabtree.
The Las Vegas Raiders are definitely not pleased with the Baltimore Ravens after they pulled out of their commitment to trade two first-round picks for defensive end Maxx Crosby. While the Ravens have every right to back out of a trade they don’t like before it’s official, the timing has led to a lot of speculation.
What doesn’t help quiet the conspiracies is that Baltimore quickly pivoted to signing defensive end Trey Hendrickson to a four-year, $112 million contract. The working theory is that the Ravens saw that Hendrickson didn’t get signed, and his market value was lower than expected.
Signing him and leaving the Raiders at the altar allowed them to add a Pro Bowl pass rusher while getting their two first-round picks back. Now, it’s going to be impossible to know that for sure. The Ravens didn’t technically break any NFL rules, so they aren’t going to be punished.
Baltimore is citing a failed physical for why they didn’t trade for Crosby, but not everybody is buying that.
One person who is suspicious is former Raiders and Ravens wide receiver Michael Crabtree. He had an interesting response to the Hendrickson signing on social media.
“Something ain’t right,” Crabtree wrote on X.
Eric DeCosta Claims Nothing Shady Happened
Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta has become a major villain around the NFL, especially for the Raiders and their fan base. To his credit, he addressed the decision with the media.
He understands why people think the Ravens pulled out of the trade for unethical reasons, but he insists that he was simply trying to make the right decision for the team.
“We live in that age of skepticism and people question, especially people that don’t really know me or know the Ravens culture and the Ravens organization. I understand it,” DeCosta told reporters on Wednesday. “As I said at the beginning, I’ve got a responsibility for the Ravens, to this community, to our fans and to Steve Bisciotti to do what we think is best for the club. And that’s what we always try to do.
“Every decision we make is based on this idea. ‘Is this the best thing for the Ravens?’”
DeCosta Says It Was a Difficult Decision
The Ravens were aware that pulling this big of a bait and switch on a team was going ot have major ramifications around the NFL. There were many teams hoping to trade for Crosby, but they missed out due to the Ravens.
The Raiders spent big in free agency, thinking that Crosby’s salary cap hit wouldn’t be on the books. The Ravens have messed up a lot of things for Las Vegas. DeCosta claims that he agonized over the decision.
“I don’t really know what we could do differently than what we did,” DeCosta said. “Again, it’s a really, really, really, really tough call. There were moments yesterday when honestly I was probably speechless. Just sitting in my chair in my office and just thinking about what the next step would be and trying to get as much information as possible.”