Bears Botched Trade with Baltimore Causes to Ravens Slide

There was quite a bit of chaos with the Ravens #26 pick in the first round.  As the Ravens time on the clock expired, the Kansas City Chiefs slid up to #26 to select Pitt WR Jonathan Baldwin.  The Ravens recovered and selected CB Jimmy Smith at #27.  As it turns out, Jerry Angelo and the Chicago Bears were the the direct cause of Baltimore missing getting the pick in on time.

As Brad Biggs reported via Twitter, the Bears were set to trade their 4th round pick, #127 overall to the Ravens to move up from #29 to the Ravens’ 26th spot. I guess the Bears got a little nervous that the Kansas City Chiefs would grab Gabe Carimi, whom the Bears coveted, at #27.

Here’s Ravens GM Ozzie Newsome on the incident:

"“Everyone was poised,” Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome said. “I was on the phone with the other team. (Coach) John (Harbaugh) was on the phone with Jimmy Smith. Once that agreement was made, then they have to call the league.“We were prepared to pick. We were also waiting to see if any calls came. A call did come. John was on the phone with the player we drafted, Jimmy Smith. I was on the phone with another team in the league. There was an agreement between the team and I. I got on the phone with Joel (Bussert, the NFL vice president for player personnel). The other team never got confirmation with the league.”"

Jerry Angelo apologized and took responsibility for the incident, but that may not be enough.  From the Ravens point of view, they agreed to the trade with the Bears but since the Bears didn’t follow the proper protocol, the Ravens shouldn’t have to miss out on the 4th round pick that the Bears agreed to send their way.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out.   Could the Bears actually lose pick #127?

It’s a big black mark on the organization that screwed up announcing a coach hiring, misfiled paperwork that cost them with some restricted free agents and as recently as last year, called running back James Starks to tell him he was being selected only to take Dan LeFevour instead.

In the end, it all worked out and everyone got their man, but not before the Bears got to screw things up a bit in the process.  Maybe it’s best for Jerry Angelo to stick to trading DOWN in drafts since the notion of trading UP is just too much pressure.

Ironically enough, the whole scene was reminiscent of the Vikings missed draft pick when they couldn’t complete a trade with the same Baltimore Ravens back in 2003.