Trade History: Deals bring Ravens several stars during championship season
The Ravens are entering their 25th year of existence, and while the team has brought in its best players (Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, and Jonathan Ogden) through the Draft, Baltimore has acquired several complementary pieces through trades.
Trades for wide receiver Anquan Boldin from the Cardinals and running back Jamal Lewis in a draft pick deal with the Falcons have already been featured in previous articles, but the Ravens made enough deals in their 24-year history to fill a full list without them.
1. April 26, 2003:
Raven received: A first-round pick in the 2003 NFL Draft
Patriots received: A 2003 second-round pick and a 2004 first-round selection
The Ravens were coming off a season in which they went 7-9 with the combination of Jeff Blake and Chris Redman at quarterback, and used the acquired pick on Kyle Boller, a quarterback from California. Boller started nine games as a rookie, and the following year he started the full season and set career-highs with 2,559 yards and 13 touchdowns. Overall, he had a 20-22 record, 45 touchdowns and 44 interceptions in five seasons with Baltimore. Boller backed up Steve McNair in 2006 when the Ravens went 13-3 and reached the Division Round. He missed the 2008 season with an injured shoulder, then signed with the Rams for one year and the Raiders for two before retiring in 2012.
The second-round pick was Michigan tight end Bennie Joppru, who the Patriots traded for Illinois defensive back Eugene Wilson and Temple defensive tackle Dan Klecko. The 2004 second-rounder was used on University of Miami defensive tackle Vince Wilfork, who was a five-time Pro Bowler, a two-time champion and a 2012 All-Pro in 11 seasons with the Patriots. He registered 517 tackles and 16 sacks in New England before he signed with Houston in 2015, where he played two seasons before retiring in 2017.
Assessment: A high draft slot doesn’t necessarily lead to success in the NFL. Boller is a good example of someone who came out of college with plenty of potential but fell flat. Even without Wilson and Klecko being acquired at the 2003 Draft, Wilfork by himself gives New England the advantage. PATRIOTS
2. (Part One) March 4, 2004:
Ravens received: WR Terrell Owens
49ers received: A 2004 second-round pick
(Part Two) Three-team deal on March 16, 2004: Ravens received: Two 2004 second-round picks (one each from 49ers and Eagles)
Eagles received: WR Terrell Owens
49ers received: DT Brandon Whiting
The saga of Terrell Owens has many facets, including posing on the star at midfield in Dallas after scoring two touchdowns, doing pushups in his driveway as a free agent while agent Drew Rosenhaus extolled his accolades to the press and refusing to attend his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2018, instead of holding an event at his alma mater, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. One of the stranger moments of his career came in March 2004. Owens signed a seven-year contract with the 49ers in 2000, and one of the terms of the deal was an opt-out clause after four years that would allow him to become a free agent. However, his agent at the time, David Joseph, failed to meet the late February deadline, and his contract remained in San Francisco’s possession. Owens filed a grievance against the league, but the 49ers traded him to the Ravens for a second-round pick in early March, which the Ravens made with the thought that his original contract was still in force. However, the receiver won his grievance, making him a free agent, and the cash-strapped Ravens sent him to the Eagles less than two weeks later as part of a three-team deal. Owens signed a seven-year, $49 million contract that had most of the money pushed to the later years of the agreement.
In the three-team trade, Baltimore got back the second-round pick sent to the 49ers in the original move and selected Oregon State defensive tackle Dwan Edwards, who had two sacks in 53 games over five seasons with the Ravens. The pick from the Eagles became Arkansas safety Tony Bua, who was traded in order for Baltimore to move up in the fifth round and take Roderick Green, a linebacker from Central Missouri State. Green had two sacks in two seasons with the Ravens, and 10 more in three years with the 49ers after signing with them in 2006.
Whiting had played the previous six years as a defensive end in Philadelphia, amassing 16½ sacks and 10 fumble recoveries. He played just five games with San Francisco, but tore his ACL and retired after the 2004 season.
Owens’ tenure in Philadelphia lasted 21 games. He was a Pro Bowler and an All-Pro in 2004 after posting 77 catches for 1,200 yards and 14 touchdowns. However, he sustained a fractured fibula and severely sprained ankle during a December game against the Cowboys. Owens went against medical advice and played in Super Bowl XXXIX, totaling nine receptions for 122 yards, but the Eagles fell to the Patriots, 24-21. Owens was known for being a diva and alienating his teammates, and he continued that practice in Philadelphia, with public comments against quarterback Donovan McNabb earning him a suspension and deactivation for the final nine games in 2005. Owens was released in early 2006 and spent the next three years with Dallas, then one each with Buffalo and Cincinnati. After his release, he had several tryouts, both in the U. S. (Seahawks and the Indoor Football League’s Allen Wranglers) and Canada (Edmonton Eskimos and Saskatchewan Roughriders), but decided to stay retired (which he made official in 2011).
Assessment: How do you break down this strange situation? The two players Baltimore drafted amounted to almost nothing, San Francisco lost Whiting to a career-ending injury after just five games and Philadelphia made it to the Super Bowl behind Owens, but his feud with McNabb almost negates the good. The Ravens certainly did not win this trade because they traded away one of the best receivers in the game, and I’m tempted to say no team won due to Owens’ antics. However, the Eagles came within one game of a title, so I have to give them the edge. EAGLES
3. (Part One) April 29, 2006:
Ravens received: A first-round pick in the 2006 NFL Draft
Browns received: First- and sixth-round picks in 2006
(Part Two) March 10, 2015: Ravens received 2015 fourth- and fifth-round picks
Lions received: DT Haloti Ngata and a 2015 seventh-rounder
While it looks at first glance like these trades are unrelated, they have one common thread. The first-round pick Baltimore received in 2006 was Ngata, who was named to five Pro Bowls and two All-Pro teams with the Ravens. He also played in three AFC Championship Games and registered two tackles in Baltimore’s 34-31 win over San Francisco in Super Bowl XLVII. After nine seasons with the Ravens, Ngata was sent to Detroit in 2015. In that deal, Baltimore selected Kentucky pass rusher Za’Darius Smith in the fourth round. Smith had 18½ sacks in four years with the Ravens before signing with the Packers in 2019, with whom he earned a Pro Bowl selection after posting 13½ sacks. The fifth-rounder was West Virginia defensive end Shaquille Riddick, who was traded to Arizona so the Ravens could move up in the second round and draft Maxx Williams, a tight end from Minnesota. Williams had just 63 catches and three touchdowns in four years before signing with the Cardinals in 2019.
Kamerion Wimbley, a defensive end and linebacker from Florida State, was selected by the Browns with the 2006 first-rounder. Wimbley had 11 sacks as a rookie and totaled 26½ in four seasons with Cleveland. He was traded to the Raiders in 2010 and had 16 sacks in two years with Oakland. Wimbley spent his final three seasons with the Titans, registering 11 sacks before retiring in 2014. Cleveland also drafted Stanford defensive tackle Babatunde Oshinowo in the sixth round. Oshinowo had two career tackles, both with the Browns in 2006. He played one game with the Bears the following year and had failed tryouts with five other teams over the next two seasons before retiring in 2010.
Ngata registered six sacks in three years with the Lions. He finished off his career with one sack in 13 games with the Eagles in 2018. Detroit traded the 2016 seventh-rounder to Tampa Bay, which became Joey Iosefa. The Hawaii fullback played two games with the Patriots before converting to rugby. The Buccaneers move allowed the Lions to move up into to the fifth round and select Michael Burton, a fullback from Rutgers. Burton played two years each with Detroit and Chicago, spent 2019 with Washington and signed with New Orleans in the offseason. He has 11 yards rushing and 53 receiving in his career.
Assessment: The Ravens held onto Ngata, one of the premier defensive tackles in the NFL, for nearly a decade after acquiring him for Wimbley, who started strong but saw his play taper off. Baltimore traded Ngata away when the time was right, using the pick they acquired on Smith, a high energy player who starred in pass defense. RAVENS
4. March 8, 2007:
Ravens received: RB Willis McGahee
Bills received: Third- and seventh-round picks in the 2007 NFL Draft
McGahee accomplished a rare feat in the NFL, winning the league’s Comeback Player of the Year Award in his first season of playing. How does that happen, you ask? With the University of Miami, he suffered a gruesome leg injury during the 2003 Fiesta Bowl National Championship Game that resulted in tears to his ACL, PCL and MCL. He sat out his rookie season, but ran for 1,128 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2004. McGahee combined for 3,365 yards and 24 scores in three years with the Bills, but he made disparaging remarks against the team and the city of Buffalo, so he was traded. With Baltimore, he ran for 1,207 yards and made his first Pro Bowl in 2007. His yardage totals went down each of the next three seasons, but he still found his way to the end zone, registering 31 scores in his four years with the Ravens. McGahee made his only other Pro Bowl in 2011 after signing with the Broncos as a free agent. He spent two years in Denver and one in Cleveland before retiring in 2013.
Trent Edwards started well enough, but struggled to keep his career on track. The former Stanford quarterback turned his third-round draft status into an All-Rookie Team selection in 2007 and set career-highs with 2,699 yards and 11 touchdowns the following year. However, Edwards was plagued by concussions and inconsistent play. He had a 14-18 record in parts of four seasons before Buffalo waived him early in 2010. Edwards signed with the Jaguars and played three games in Jacksonville. He went unsigned in 2011 (although he had a tryout with the Raiders), and threw two passes with the Eagles in 2012. He retired in 2014 after failing to latch on with Chicago and Oakland. The seventh-rounder the Bills received was C. J. Ah You, a defensive end who was expelled from BYU and eventually accepted at Oklahoma. Ah You was released by the Bills in training camp and spent two years on the Rams’ practice squad before St. Louis found a roster spot for him in 2009. He had six sacks and 41 tackles in three seasons before he was released and retired in 2012. Ah You was a defensive line coach at Vanderbilt from 2016-18, and held the same position with the XFL’s New York Guardians this year.
Assessment: Buffalo did not get enough in return for McGahee. Even though he did not have great ability to put together long runs, he was a consistent goal line threat in Baltimore. Edwards was given the not-so-endearing nickname “Captain Checkdown” with the Bills and Ah You did not even make the squad. RAVENS
5. April 28, 2007:
Ravens received: A third-round pick in the 2007 NFL Draft
Jaguars received: Fourth-, fifth- and sixth-round picks in 2007
The pick the Ravens received turned into Marshal Yanda, a guard from Iowa who earned eight Pro Bowl and two All-Pro selections, and was also named to the 2010s All-Decade Team. He started 14 playoff games, including a win over the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII. Although he missed 14 games due to a broken ankle in 2017, Yanda came back to earn Pro Bowl bids his final two seasons before retiring early in 2020 after 13 years in the NFL. He has made headlines recently for losing nearly 60 pounds in his first three months away from the game.
Not only did the Jaguars miss out on Yanda, but the Broncos did too, since they originally owned the pick before trading it to Jacksonville so they could move up four spots in the first round and take Florida pass rusher Jarvis Moss, who had just six sacks in six seasons. With the first of the three picks received, the Jaguars took Maryland punter Adam Podlesh in the fourth round. Podlesh averaged 42.6 yards per punt over four seasons in Jacksonville. He signed with Chicago in 2011 and spent three years with the Bears before signing with Pittsburgh in 2014, but retired after nearly losing his wife during childbirth.
The Jaguars selected Notre Dame defensive tackle Derek Landri in the fifth round. Landri totaled three sacks in three seasons, but had a sack and an interception against Pittsburgh in Jacksonville’s 2007 Wild Card game win. He had three sacks and started every game with Carolina in 2010, spent two years with Philadelphia and one with Tampa Bay before retiring in 2013. Jacksonville traded away the sixth-round pick (Maine safety Daren Stone, who played eight games with the Falcons in 2007 and eight more with the Ravens the following year) along with two other selections to move up to the fifth round and select Uche Nwaneri, a guard from Purdue. Nwaneri played 104 games in seven years with Jacksonville. He signed with Dallas in 2014, but retired after being released in the final round of preseason roster cuts.
Assessment: Giving up three picks for a third-rounder could seem like a steep price, but despite a few solid seasons by Podlesh and Nwaneri, Yanda was one of the best players at his position for more than a decade. RAVENS
6. April 26, 2008:
Ravens received: A first-round pick in the 2008 NFL Draft
Texans received: First-, third- and sixth-round picks in 2008
Until recently, the Ravens have not had very much success finding a star at football’s most visible position, quarterback. The pick received in this trade was used to select Joe Flacco, the 2007 ECAC Player of the Year at Delaware. Flacco is Baltimore’s all-time leader with 38,245 yards, 212 touchdowns and 136 interceptions. Despite hitting the 3,000-yard mark eight times (with a high of 4,317 in 2016), Flacco has never been selected to a Pro Bowl. However, he posted a 96-67 record as a starter with the Ravens and threw for 287 yards and three touchdowns against the 49ers to earn MVP honors in Super Bowl XLVII. He was traded to Denver in 2019 and played eight games with the Broncos before suffering a neck injury that ended his season. Denver released him in 2020, and he is unsigned while recovering from surgery.
The Texans used the first-round pick to select Duane Brown, a tackle from Virginia Tech who made three Pro Bowls and was named an All-Pro in 2012. In his push to get a new contract in 2017, Brown held out the first six games of the season and was traded to Seattle. He still made the Pro Bowl with the Seahawks, and has started 28 games over the past two seasons. In the third round, the Texans selected running back Steve Slaton, who ran for 3,923 yards and 50 touchdowns in three years at West Virginia. He started strong in the NFL, rushing for 1,282 yards and nine scores in 2008, but lost out to Chicago’s Matt Forte for the running back spot on the All-Rookie Team. Slaton fumbled seven times and lost carries to Chris Brown in 2009, and he was inconsistent the next two years and signed with the Dolphins after being waived by the Texans early in the 2011 season. Miami let him go in 2012 and after failing a tryout with the Bears, he signed with the CFL’s Argonauts in 2014. After one season in Toronto, Slaton retired in 2015. Houston used the final pick in this deal on University of Minnesota safety Dominque Barber. The brother of former Cowboys running back Marion Barber III and cousin of Redskins running back Peyton Barber, Dominique had one sack, one interception and 57 tackles in four seasons with the Texans before retiring in 2011.
Assessment: Brown is one of the better tackles in the league and Slaton started out with a great season, but Flacco has been a consistent performer for most of the past decade and had arguably his best performance in his team’s biggest game. RAVENS
7. April 26, 2008:
Ravens received: Second- and third-round picks in 2008
Seahawks received: A 2008 second-rounder
Like the Patriots, the Ravens seem to have a knack for finding talented players outside of the first round. In this case, the second-rounder turned into Ray Rice, who ranks second in team history with 6,180 yards and 37 touchdowns in six seasons. The 2007 All-American from Rutgers was a three-time Pro Bowler and had four straight 1,000-yard seasons from 2009-12. During the 2012 postseason, he ran for 131 yards and a score in a Division Round win over the Broncos and added 59 more yards in Baltimore’s win in Super Bowl XLVII. Unfortunately, he has made some poor decisions off the field. Rice and his then-fiancée Janay Palmer got into an altercation at an Atlantic City, New Jersey, hotel that resulted in Palmer charging at him in an elevator and Rice knocking her out with a punch. His third-degree aggravated assault charges were dropped after he agreed to undergo court-supervised counseling (with the couple getting married the day after he was indicted). Rice was suspended two games by the NFL and was later released by the Ravens. He filed a grievance against the league and his former team, which was settled out of court in 2015. Baltimore used the third-round pick on Notre Dame safety Tom Zbikowski, who had two interceptions and one sack in four seasons with the Ravens. He signed with the Colts in 2012 and missed five games with a knee injury. After trying out with the Bears, Zbikowski retired in 2013. Since then, he has overcome alcohol addiction, had a successful boxing career, works as a firefighter and a high school football coach.
Seattle drafted tight end John Carlson, who was Zbikowski’s former teammate at Notre Dame. Carlson earned a spot on the All-Rookie Team after leading the Seahawks with 55 receptions in 2008, and he totaled 137 catches, 1,519 yards and 13 touchdowns in three seasons in the Pacific Northwest. Carlson’s problems were with injuries. He suffered a concussion during a 2010 Division Round game against the Bears and missed all of the 2011 season with a torn labrum. Carlson signed with the Vikings in 2012 and spent two years with Minnesota and one with Arizona before retiring in 2015.
Assessment: Despite Rice’s domestic issues, he was a key part of Baltimore’s title victory. Carlson’s tenure in Seattle was ruined by injuries. RAVENS
8. April 22, 2010:
Ravens received: Second-, third and fourth-round picks in the 2010
NFL Draft
Broncos received: A first-round pick in 2010
The Ravens pulled in a haul in this deal, starting with Sergio Kindle, a three-time All-Big 12 selection and a 2009 All-American at Texas. He suffered knee and ankle injuries with the Longhorns and also had a DWI arrest. With Baltimore, Kindle missed his entire rookie season after falling down two flights of stairs and fracturing his skull. He played just three games in two seasons with the Ravens before he was released and retired in 2012.
The other two picks in this trade were used on two tight ends, Oregon’s Ed Dickson and BYU’s Dennis Pitta, who made a formidable tandem for three seasons together. After a year as a backup to Todd Heap, Dickson started all 16 games in 2011 and posted career-highs with 54 catches, 528 yards, and five touchdowns. He became more of a blocker starting in 2012, but had two receptions for 37 yards in Super Bowl XLVII. After one more season in Baltimore, Dickson signed with Carolina and spent four years with the Panthers. He played with the Seahawks in 2018 and missed the following season due to a knee injury before Seattle released him in 2020. Pitta had a bigger role in Baltimore’s passing game than Dickson, totaling 224 receptions, 2,098 yards and 13 touchdowns in six seasons with the Ravens. The 2009 collegiate All-American had three touchdowns in the 2012 playoffs, including one in the Super Bowl victory over the 49ers. However, he suffered a dislocated and fractured hip that caused him to miss most of the next three seasons, including all of 2015. Despite doctors advising him to retire, Pitta came back in 2016 to post career-highs with 86 catches (most among tight ends in the NFL) and 729 yards. The following year, he suffered another hip injury in a non-contact drill during organized team activities, which led to his release by the Ravens and, ultimately, his retirement.
The Broncos gave up quite a bit to gain a second pick in the first round (they selected Georgia Tech wide receiver, Demaryius Thomas, at No. 22). With this pick, Denver took Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, a two-time BCS National Champion, a two-time All-American and the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner. Tebow came into the NFL when the league was starting to embrace the “Wildcat” offense, which valued athletes in different formations to try and fool defenses. He threw five touchdowns passes and had six more scores on the ground while backing up Kyle Orton as a rookie, then Tebow took over the starting role in 2011, posting 12 touchdowns passing and six rushing while leading the Broncos to a 7-4 record in his starts. In the Wild Card game, he threw for 316 yards and two scores, including an 80-yard touchdown to Thomas that gave the Broncos a 29-23 win against the Steelers in overtime. However, Tebow was criticized after completing less than 50 percent of his passes in his first two seasons. Denver traded Tebow to the Jets after signing Peyton Manning in 2012. New York used Tebow on special teams and in the Wildcat formation for a year, and he retired in 2015 after failing to earn a roster spot during tryouts with the Patriots and Eagles. Tebow is pursuing a baseball career in the New York Mets organization and also works as an analyst for the SEC Network.
Assessment: Dickson and Pitta were a formidable pair during Baltimore’s Super Bowl run in 2012, while Tebow’s stellar college career did not translate well to the pro level. RAVENS
9. (Part One) April 29, 2016:
Ravens received: Second- and fifth-round picks in 2016
Jaguars received: A 2016 second-round pick
(Part Two) April 29, 2016: Ravens received: Second- and fourth-rounders in 2016
Dolphins received: A 2016 second-round pick
The Ravens used the fifth-round pick received from the Jaguars on Matt Judon, a linebacker and pass rusher from Grand Valley State. Judon has 28½ sacks and seven forced fumbles in four seasons, and he made his first Pro Bowl in 2019 after posting a career-high 9½ sacks. Shortly after the Jacksonville trade, Baltimore sent the 38th pick to the Dolphins and selected Boise State linebacker Kamalei Correa (second round) and University of Cincinnati wide receiver Chris Moore (fourth round) with the picks received from Miami. Correa played two seasons with the Ravens, making 19 tackles in 25 games, mostly on special teams. “Kameleon” has fared better in two seasons after signing with the Titans in 2018. He has 8½ sacks and 56 tackles in 29 games with Tennessee. Moore has four touchdowns in four seasons with Baltimore, and also has 1,080 yards on kickoff returns.
Jacksonville used the second-round pick to select Myles Jack, a linebacker from UCLA. In four seasons, Jack has 5½ sacks, 287 tackles and two touchdowns (one interception and one fumble return). His production led to a four-year, $57 million extension in 2019.
The Dolphins moved up four picks from their original spot in the second round and chose cornerback Xavien Howard, a 2015 All-Big 12 selection at Baylor. Howard has 12 interceptions in four years, including a league-leading seven in his Pro Bowl 2018 season. In December 2019, Howard was arrested and charged with domestic battery after allegedly pushing his fiancée into a mirror. The charges were dropped about a month later when she refused to continue with prosecution.
Assessment: A difficult pair of trades to break down, since all three teams involved got a quality player and made the playoffs at least once in the past four years. PUSH
10. April 26, 2018:
Ravens received: First- and fourth-round picks in the 2018 NFL Draft
Eagles received: Second- and fourth-round picks in 2018 and a second-rounder in 2019
Most trades take a few years to see how the players have performed, but it did not take that long with this move. Baltimore sent three picks to Philadelphia to obtain a second pick in the first round and select quarterback Lamar Jackson, a two-time ACC Player of the Year at Louisville who was an All-American and the Heisman Trophy winner in 2016. Jackson became Baltimore’s starter after Joe Flacco injured his hip, and he jump-started a team that was 4-5 at the time. The Ravens went 6-1 and made the playoffs before falling to the Chargers in the Wild Card round. In 2019, Jackson went 13-2 and earned the NFL’s MVP award (as well as All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors) after throwing for 3,127 yards and a league-best 36 touchdowns to just six interceptions. He also set a record among quarterbacks with 1,206 rushing yards, besting the previous mark of 1,039 set by Atlanta’s Michael Vick in 2006. Jackson had 365 yards passing in the Division round, but the Ravens were upset by the Titans. With the fourth-rounder, Baltimore took New Mexico State wide receiver Jaleel Scott, who missed his rookie season with a hamstring injury and had one reception for six yards in 2019.
Philadelphia traded the second-round pick received in this deal (Rutgers defensive end Kemoko Turay) to the Colts, moving up three spots to take tight end Dallas Goedert, a two-time Football Championship Subdivision All-American at South Dakota State. Goedert has amassed 91 receptions for 941 yards and nine touchdowns in two seasons, and also posted seven catches for 73 years in Philadelphia’s loss to Seattle in the 2019 Wild Card round. The Eagles selected Pitt cornerback Avonte Maddox in the fourth round. Maddox has two interceptions, two forced fumbles and 1½ sacks in 25 regular-season games. The 2019 second-rounder, Penn State running back Miles Sanders, may have the highest upside of all three picks the Eagles received. While he was used primarily as a rusher in college, Sanders showed dual-threat capabilities in Philadelphia. He had 818 rushing yards, 50 catches and 509 receiving yards and six total touchdowns in his rookie season, and he ran for 69 yards in the playoff loss to the Seahawks.
Assessment: The Eagles may have something special with Sanders and potentially Goedert, but Jackson has made the most of his opportunity. He has gone 19-3 as a starter, won an MVP award, and set the single-season rushing record among quarterbacks. The only thing missing is a championship. RAVENS
All NFL statistics and awards courtesy of https://www.pro-football-reference.com/
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