Eric DeCosta Has Ravens In Position To Succeed For A Long Time

For many years, teams looking for a GM wanted to interview Eric DeCosta. He consistently passed on them to remain in Baltimore as Ozzie Newsome’s right-hand man in the personnel department. 

DeCosta joined the Ravens in 1996 and worked his way up. He was an area scout for five years, their director of college scouting for six years, director of player personnel for three years and assistant general manager for six years.

After the 2013 season, Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti gave GM Ozzie Newsome a five-year extension, and both sides agreed Newsome would then hand over the reigns to DeCosta. And so, DeCosta waited his turn and declined interview after interview with other teams.

Ever since taking over in 2019, DeCosta has made a bunch of moves. He took full control of a roster that included young quarterback Lamar Jackson (many people believe DeCosta was the one pushing for that pick), but DeCosta had to rebuild an aging defense and build an offense around Jackson’s unique skillset 

Here’s a rundown of some of the moves he has made: 

Notable trades:

• Traded an aging Joe Flacco to the Broncos for a 2019 4th-round pick.
• Traded kicker Kaare Vedvik to the Vikings for a 5th-round pick.
• Traded LB Kenny Young and a 5th-round pick to the Rams for CB Marcus Peters.
• Traded a 5th-round pick (that they got from Minnesota for Vedvik) to the Jaguars for DE Calais Campbell.
• Traded TE Hayden Hurst and a 4th-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for a 2nd-round pick and a 5th-round pick.
• Traded a 3rd-round pick and a conditional 5th-round pick to the Vikings for DE Yannick Ngakoue.

Notable extensions:

• Signed blocking TE Nick Boyle to a 3-year, $18 million extension.
• Signed K Justin Tucker to a 4-year, $23M extension.
• Signed CB Marcus Peters to a 3-year, $42 million extension.
• Signed S Chuck Clark to a 3-year, $16M extension
• Signed DE Calais Campbell to a 2-year, $25M extension.
• Signed CB Marlon Humphrey to a 5-year, $98.75M extension.
• Signed LT Ronnie Stanley to a 5-year, $98.75M extension.

Notable draft picks:

• First round pick in 2019: WR Marquise Brown
• First round pick in 2020: LB Patrick Queen.
• Used the 2nd-round pick from the Hayden Hurst trade on RB JK Dobbins.

Notable free agent signings:

• RB Mark Ingram
• LB LJ Fort
• DE Derek Wolfe
• G DJ Fluker
• WR Dez Bryant 

There are a few flops as well. The Earl Thomas signing is an example.

But the Ravens with Eric DeCosta, John Harbaugh and Lamar Jackson are in position to be a threat in the AFC for a very long time.

It’s pretty clear why so many teams wanted to interview DeCosta, and why the Ravens wanted him to eventually take over for the great Ozzie Newsome. It has worked quite well so far.

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