The Ravens Strike Quickly By Signing Trey Hendrickson And I Don't Care How It Looks
Well... that was quick. Suspiciously quick? Whatever. The Ravens have filled a big time need.
There's gonna be a lot made of the saga that was the Maxx Crosby era in Baltimore. You can definitely look at the last 24 hours in two totally different ways.
1. The Ravens and Hendrickson had conversations going on in the background while the deal was pending, realized he was attainable and struck a deal, and tanked Crosby's physical when it became clear they could get a much-needed impact pass rusher AND keep their two first rounders.
2. Maxx Crosby's knee/overall health was a very real and genuine concern and the Ravens did what any team in that scenario would do next after determining it was too risky... which is go get the next best thing and do it expeditiously.
There's plenty of room for the truth to be somewhere between those two places. The optics certainly don't look good, and you can bet your ass the vast majority of folks are going to go with version #1 of the story. Especially outside of Baltimore.
Well....
A lot has been made of Baltimore having a high bar to clear when it comes to passing physicals. And shit... if you're investing two first rounders and over 10% of your total comp, shouldn't it be awfully high? The Ravens aren't infallible in the way they do business, but I don't think anyone would disagree that their operating compass is far better than most in the league.
The two most cited examples of failed physicals in Baltimore are Ryan Grant in 2018 and Michael Brockers back in 2020. Well... I'll have you know that each of those two players were out of the league before the term of the pending contract would've been up. Grant in particular may have not missed a game up until that fateful physical, but the ankle that caused the concern sure enough ended up being injured by Week 5 of that year. I haven't seen anyone really mention that yet but they've proven to be pretty correct in their assessments.
But I digress. This is a far better outcome for the Ravens and I won't apologize for it. Trey Hendrickson is surely a lesser player than Maxx Crosby, but a far improvement for a front 7 that has lacked a dynamic pass rusher in recent years. He's a little bit older and doesn't set the edge against the run as well as him, but having our next two first rounders back to invest into another young pass rusher or solve some offensive line issues is waaay more ideal for us.
Tough scene for the Raiders, but they'll be fine. They may even be keeping Crosby after all. Maybe those two were just meant to be. And perhaps the Ravens have lost some credibility with other teams with regards to making deals. But all in all, the offseason is back on track when for a night there, it looked like all was lost.
Onwards.