Ravens selected the corner they wanted in the 1st Round… Jimmy Smith, 6-2, 205, Colorado…but a massive communications snafu almost cost them the pick.
“and the Ravens are on the clock….and at Pick #26, the Ravens select…wait! No!!! Time has expired! …the Ravens must wait until Pick #27….whaaaatt?!”
That’s a moment I’ll never forget…Don’t get me wrong, I love the pick for Jimmy Smith…
But what happened on Thursday night was new for me…and new for Ravens GM Ozzie Newsomne, too…
Newsome believed he had a trade with the Chicago Bears to move back from No. 26 to No. 29 in the first round and reportedly pick up an extra fourth-round pick.
As he always does, Newsome called the NFL – with 2 ½ minutes remaining on the clock – to make the trade official. And he waited, and waited for confirmation.
Ultimately, the NFL spokesman on the other end of the line told Newsome he needed to make a pick. Chicago never called the league to confirm the trade and the Ravens ran out of time.
“Long day,” Newsome said to open up the team’s press conference minutes after making the pick.
“There was an agreement made between the team and I. I got on the phone with the NFL, but the other never got confirmation from the league. At that point, I was asked by the league to make the pick.”
The allotted 10 minutes for Baltimore to make its selection ran out, meaning any team afterwards could run to the podium to make its pick before the Ravens. It’s a rarity in the draft, last happening to the Minnesota Vikings in 2003.
The Kansas City Chiefs automatically leapfrogged Baltimore, and could have taken Smith off the board, but chose Pittsburgh wide receiver Jonathan Baldwin instead.
The Ravens had a draft card with Smith’s name on it ready to turn in at Radio City Music Hall, and quickly handed it in right after the Chiefs made their pick.
Chicago Bears General Manager Jerry Angelo took the blame for the mishap. He told reporters that he called Baltimore to apologize.
“It was our fault,” Angelo said. “They did everything according to the rules. … We had a disconnect. Whatever you hear, Baltimore did everything right.”
The Bears were looking to trade with Baltimore to select Wisconsin tackle Gabe Carimi, Angelo said. They were fearful Kansas City was going to take him at No. 27. When the Chiefs took Baldwin, the Saints traded up with New England to snag Alabama running back Mark Ingram at No. 28 and the Bears still got their man in Carimi at No. 29.
In the end, the Bears’ error cost the Ravens a fourth-round pick. But Baltimore did get the player it wanted.
“If we would have gotten back on the clock [at No. 29] and Jimmy would have been there, yes we would have taken him,” Newsome said. “We got the player and we’re just happy to have him.”
It was definitley confusing and annoying watching last night as the Ravens disappeared off the board, and the Chiefs came up, and all that was said was “the Chiefs were on the board, and the Ravens have passed”. But to be quite honest, people are freaking out a little too much over this thing. If Jimmy Smith was “best player on the board” at the time, and there was no talk of a trade, the Ravens probably would have taken “the best player on the board” anyway. If the trade with Chicago had gone through and he were still there at 29, well, guess what…Ravens probably were gonna take Jimmy Smith anyway. Losing an extra 4th round pick (which Ravens would have received for the trade-down with Chicago) is what makes this thing so sour.
Don’t let the feeling of losing an extra pick deter the quality of a pick your Ravens virtually had all along. Ozzie and everyone in the war room know what they’re doing, people. Talent wise I think Jimmy Smith is a great pick. Now comes the point of making sure the off-field issues don’t consume him…which is where Ray Lewis and Ed Reed enter as the team leaders who must scare Jimmy Smith straight.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
