Going behind the scenes as the Baltimore Ravens selected Vega Ioane in last week's first round.
Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta has had quite the offseason. It started with the questionable deal breaker with the Las Vegas Raiders when they called off the Maxx Crosby deal.
That decision was followed immediately, like immediately, with the signing of Bengals pass rusher Trey Hendrickson, and the Ravens started the real rebuild of their trenches.
After this was done, he turned his attention to the NFL Draft with the intent of getting back to the team's hard-nosed roots.
They had several players on their board at the 14th overall pick, including guys like Carnell Tate, Spencer Fano, and Francis Mauigoa. They took a look at tight end Kenyon Sadiq, along with another wide receiver, Jordyn Tyson.
As the board fell the way that it did, they sat at 14 with Penn State's Vega Ioane on the board, and then the phone began to ring. They could trade back with at least one specific team, stay in the teens, and acquire a couple more mid-round picks.
Allegedly, DeCosta had a deal on the table when the 14th pick came up, but the other side of the deal backed out. He said that the other team "inexplicably changed their offer."
Karma is a very funny thing.
This left the Ravens sticking at pick 14 with Ioane on the board and the opportunity to pull the trigger at a position of need while accomplishing DeCosta's goal of getting back to being a hard-nosed football team.
While debating between a couple of players, DeCosta cited that head coach Jesse Minter's conviction in the player was what helped push him over the edge. Minter was said to have a "really strong opinion... and that really resonated with (DeCosta)."
The last time that DeCosta and the Ravens used a first-round pick on an offensive lineman, that player was Tyler Linderbaum, and that worked out pretty well, didn't it?
Right away, Ioane endeared himself to the team and the fanbase. He started his introductory press conference by saying that "no one is going to stand in front of me and survive," along with "I didn't want to go to a soft football team."
The last thing that he said is the most important: "No one is going to touch my quarterback."
It's hard enough to get Lamar Jackson to the ground, but Vega Ioane is going to make it even harder now that he is in Baltimore.
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