Ravens trade OL Ben Bredeson to the NY Giants in swap of draft picks

The Baltimore Ravens have made their third trade in six days as they’ve reportedly sent offensive guard Ben Bredeson to the NY Giants in a swap of draft picks.

As first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the former fourth-round pick is being sent to New York marking the second reserve offensive lineman the Ravens have traded in the last week.

This comes after the Ravens sent rookie cornerback Shaun Wade to the New England Patriots on Thursday and veteran offensive lineman Greg Mancz to the Miami Dolphins on Saturday.

Now, the Ravens have traded away a third player who likely wouldn’t have made their roster. General manager Eric DeCosta strikes again.

The Ravens were likely going to cut Ben Bredeson regardless

A fourth-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, Bredeson played sparingly as a rookie, struggling to see the field despite a slew of injuries along the offensive line.

He returned in 2021 with some expecting him to be a part of the competition for the starting left guard job. However, it quickly became apparent that he wasn’t in the mix.

Bredeson was used primarily with the second and third-team offense throughout the summer and, while he showed some improvement, clearly wasn’t ready for any sort of featured role.

The Ravens would have found it difficult to keep him on the active roster with others such as Trystan Colon-Castillo vying for the ninth offensive line spot. With Bredeson out of the picture, it’s likely that Colon-Castillo makes the team.

The exact compensation is unknown at the time of writing, but it’s likely an exchange of future late-round picks, not too dissimilar to the Mancz deal that saw the Ravens acquire Miami’s sixth-round pick in return for their seventh.

Bredeson was likely bound for the practice squad if he wasn’t traded. At least, in this case, the Ravens were able to get something in return for a player who wasn’t going to have a role on the team.

Not ideal to cut a fourth-round pick after one season, but the organization made the best of a bad situation.

*EDIT: Schefter is reporting that the Ravens are sending a 2022 fifth-round pick (acquired from the Chiefs in the Orlando Brown Jr. trade) and a 2023 seventh-round pick to the Giants in exchange for a 2022 fourth-round pick.