Ravens senior vice president Kevin Byrne wrote a compelling account of what went down inside Baltimore’s draft room when general manager Ozzie Newsome was trying to consummate a deal with Bears general manager Jerry Angelo that would’ve sent the Ravens’ 27th pick to Chicago for the Bears’ spot at No. 29 and their fourth-round pick.
As everybody now knows, the deal never went down. Angelo accepted the blame, admitting late Thursday night that he “dropped the ball.”
This is pure speculation, but I can’t help but wonder if having an extra strong voice in the draft room resulted in this fiasco. Angelo has been running war rooms for more than two decades and shouldn’t make this kind of mistake. First-year player personnel director Tim Ruskell’s last gig was as a general manager in Seattle. I’m not making accusations here, but wonder if this was a classic case of too many cooks.
The good news is, the Bears and Ravens both got the players they wanted in Gabe Carimi and Jimmy Smith.
Anyway, here’s the complete story.
