DeCosta did not discuss his team’s assessment of Crosby’s health Wednesday, but he did highlight his conversations with Crosby and the Raiders when it was decided the trade would not go through.
“It’s hard, it’s challenging,” DeCosta said. “It was devastating for me to have that conversation; I’m sure it’s challenging for them to hear as well. It’s also very, very, very, very difficult for the player to hear as well. And that’s probably the hardest thing for the player. [Crosby] more than anyone.”
After Tuesday’s reversal, the Ravens quickly turned around and agreed to a four-year, $112 million contract with former Bengals pass rusher Trey Hendrickson. DeCosta told reporters that Hendrickson was not Plan B, but that Hendrickson represented the second part of their defensive championship program that became possible after Tyler Linderbaum agreed to a deal with the Raiders.
“We were very focused on Maxx and [had] a lot of attention paid to these particular acquisitions,” DeCosta said. “As I said, [he’s] a player that I think fits us very well and his skills. We have played against him. I really admire him in many different ways. I think for us it was probably our biggest base purchase this year. So I didn’t look at him like, “Oh, we’ll do this out of it.” It was really more, ‘How do we get better as a football team?’
“As far as Trey, I think we got to that point, probably after we lost Tyler, where we’re trying to figure out the best way for us to get better as a football team, Trey made a lot of sense as a possible guy to look at. So, we started some discussions with him and his agent and thought we’d possibly have two pass rushers on both sides of the defensive line, and I think it was disappointing for both of us. a way that might also disappoint Trey.”
DeCosta’s mention of Linderbaum is significant because it suggests the Ravens could have taken stock of their roster after an uncharacteristically significant exodus and wondered if they had taken the smartest approach to reshaping their team for the start of the 2026 league year. Linderbaum’s departure was especially significant given his status as the top center available in an unusually hot center market, Baltimore’s inability to entice him to stay and the implications it had for how the Ravens would approach the rest of the busiest week of the NFL season.
“So we had entered into talks with [Crosby and Hedrickson],” DeCosta said. “We had already agreed to trade with the Raiders. We were trying to get Tyler, obviously. We couldn’t do it. When we looked at the best ways for us to improve our football team, at some point we said, “You know what? This could be a guy that’s a real fit for us,” and we played against [Hendrickson] twice a year for the last, whatever for many years, four or five years. And thought, “Hey, maybe this is a way for us to get better as a football team.” So it was definitely a possibility for us, not to say that it would have happened, but definitely something that we had considered and discussed with Trey.”
Essentially, with cap space earmarked for Linderbaum now free to spend elsewhere, DeCosta could expand his options on other available players, clearing room for Hendrickson — who raised eyebrows with his own patient approach to free agency — to enter the equation.
It’s fair to wonder if the Ravens watched an unexpected number of players leave, then changed how they evaluated the picks they already verbally committed to Las Vegas in the proposed Crosby trade and aggressively revised their contract.
We’ll probably never know for sure if this was the case, but DeCosta knows his team will remain the subject of scrutiny, skepticism — and perhaps worst of all, hesitation — from outsiders for some time.
It’s a risk he was willing to take.
“I get it. We live in those times of skepticism and people asking, especially people who don’t really know me, don’t know the Ravens culture, the Ravens organization,” DeCosta said. “So I get it. Like I said at the beginning, we have a responsibility — I have a responsibility — to the Ravens, to this community, to our fans and to Steve Bisciotti, to do what we think is best for the club. And that’s what we always try to do. Every decision we make is based on this idea: Is this what’s best for the Ravens? Very, very challenging.
“And I understand how people, maybe, from afar would feel that way, but nobody’s more upset about it than I am. Saddened about it, actually. And so, regret – a lot of regret for me. But we’ll continue as a football team and I think there’s many, many opportunities for us to grow as a team, become a better team, build the team that we want to be.”
Ravens watchers may wonder if a series of unusual events could affect how Baltimore manages its financial situation with quarterback Lamar Jackson. In short, DeCosta said it won’t change much, and he confirmed Wednesday that they restructured Jackson’s contract to free up about $40 million in cap space.
As for how other teams might approach the Ravens after their cold feet chased them from the altar, DeCosta has no worries.
“It hasn’t stopped my phone from ringing, I’ll tell you that,” DeCosta said. “I think our relationship with agents and other teams is really, really good. I understand the question. I think GMs understand the importance of getting as much information as possible before they make decisions and I would say most agents would say that themselves, George [Kokinis]Nick [Matteo]Mark Azevedo, Ozzie [Newsome]Sashi [Brown]anyone who works with agents would say we are a party organization that does business the right way, respectfully and willing to get deals done.”