Eric DeCosta deserves major credit for Kaare Vedvik trade

Trading Kaare Vedvik may have been inevitable. Getting a fifth round pick was not. You have to tip your hat to Eric DeCosta. This move is another example that he knows what he is doing:

Eric DeCosta wins this trade, hands down. According to reports, Kaare Vedvik has been traded to the Minnesota Vikings for a fifth round pick. This is the type of move that you won’t see very often. A kicker who has never kicked a field goal in the regular season, has been traded for a fifth round pick.

DeCosta waited a long time to be the general manager of this team and he surely looks prepared. He just had a strong offseason and this move is like the cherry on the top. He may be the new general manager but he’s operating on an Ozzie Newsome level of performance. This trade should give fans even more confidence in DeCosta and the front office.

While he looked good in preseason action, Vedvik is still relatively unproven. The Vikings filled a desperate need with Vedvik, who could potentially be their punter as well. The Ravens parted with a player they were never going to keep. This had seventh round draft pick all over it. DeCosta did a couple things right and it paid off with an unprecedented trade.

The first thing DeCosta did right was he struck while the iron was hot. The potential of Vedvik being traded was a league wide headline that coincided with several teams badly needing to find a kicker. DeCosta didn’t wait to get a deal done. Vedvik’s value reached a rare height for what is essentially a rookie kicker.

The second thing that he did well was he realized that the standard line of thought did not apply to this situation. The Vedvik trade may never be replicated. Good kickers are hardly ever expendable because there aren’t enough of them for the entire NFL.

Kickers are not easy to find. The Ravens had two kickers who could get the job done. Justin Tucker just happens to be the greatest kicker of this generation. Vedvik is also a decent punter, and the Ravens already have Sam Koch. Most teams would have a harder time saying goodbye to Vedvik.

History couldn’t dictate the trade market for the Ravens backup kicker. This wasn’t a normal situation. There were a few teams vying for his services and a sixth round pick wasn’t going to move Vedvik. DeCosta got the maximum value for his backup kicker and it will help the Ravens in the 2020 NFL Draft. He didn’t get greedy. He knew the situation and he read it completely correct.

DeCosta knows what he is doing and he’s proving to be a good closer in free agency and trades. He signed Earl Thomas in a move that he pulled off in the last minute. DeCosta played his cards exactly right and surprised everyone with the netting of Thomas. He got a fourth round pick for Joe Flacco, a quarterback they were more than willing to move on from. Now DeCosta has outdone himself. He got a fifth round pick for an unproven kicker.