The Las Vegas Raiders and Baltimore Ravens have found themselves interwoven on a few occasions this offseason. Not only did they both pursue head coach candidate Jesse Minter heavily, but the Raiders were able to land former Ravens star center Tyler Linderbaum in free agency.
Oh, and there was the whole Maxx Crosby trade debacle, in which Baltimore general manager Eric DeCosta got cold feet giving up two first-rounders for Crosby and instead decided to sign Trey Hendrickson, who was surprisingly still available but has an injury history of his own.
While the alleged plan from the Ravens' shady front office was to pair up Hendrickson and Crosby, the former was obviously set up to replace the latter. But who on earth was going to replace Linderbaum in Baltimore after Las Vegas broke the bank for him in free agency?
It seems we have our answer now, and it is patently disrespectful to Crosby and the Raiders.
Ravens signing injury-prone center Ethan Pocic is grossly disrespectful to Raiders
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported on Friday that the Ravens were signing veteran center Ethan Pocic to a one-year deal. According to Schefter, the former Cleveland Brown is expected to replace Linderbaum in Baltimore, which will be no easy task.
Here's the problem, though: Pocic tore his Achilles tendon in December. Now, if our math is correct, that is just over seven months ago, 224 days to be exact. According to the National Library of Medicine, the average NFL player takes 339.8 days post-surgery to recover from such an injury.
Even when factoring in a variance of 84.8 days, Baltimore is signing Pocic roughly a month before he could even theoretically be cleared. For a team that apparently has strict medical guidelines for acquisitions, this is a bit shocking. But in a way, not shocking at all, and revealing of their process.
To be fair, signing Pocic to a one-year deal worth up to $4.5 million is a bit different than wagering two first-rounders and $35.5 million per year on Crosby. And, for what it's worth, Pocic's doctor said that he is cleared and can participate in training camp, even if the Ravens are still awaiting a physical.
However, Crosby is a way better player, and his doctor also said that he would be cleared by training camp. All signs point to that being the case. Plus, the Ravens said they were more worried about the long-term prognosis for Crosby, not just this season, even though they are clearly trying to win now.
Signing Pocic is a win-now move, as was signing a handful of other older veterans in free agency. Never mind the fact that Pocic has an extensive injury history and hasn't played an entire season since his rookie year in 2017. Never mind the fact that he's not far removed from a major injury at 30.
The fact that the Ravens are signing an injury-prone 30-year-old coming off an Achilles tear to replace Linderbaum is just purely disrespectful to the Raiders after the ringer that they put Las Vegas through this spring. Baltimore continues to make itself a bigger enemy to Raider Nation.
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