Oh, boy. Oh boy, oh boy.
As this year's trade deadline came to a close, the Baltimore Ravens refrained from making any moves, left us all a bit upset, and that only went to another entirely different level when reports started to emerge about the Flock having landed Derrick Henry before the buzzer only for the Titans owner to ultimately veto the deal!
Nobody seemed to notice, but a message sent out by Cole Jackson of Russell Street Report suggested that Baltimore had completed a trade for Titans running back and King Rusher Derrick Henry a few hours before deadline day.
Per sources, the #Ravens and Titans had a deal in place for Henry.
— Cole Jackson (@ColeJacksonFB) October 30, 2023
That deal was vetoed by the Titans owner.#RavensFlock https://t.co/Ng5NO7ol44
"Per sources, the #Ravens and Titans had a deal in place for Henry. That deal was vetoed by the Titans owner," wrote Jackson. This claim remains unverified by other sources, but Jackson worked for the Ravens in the past and he's considered a trusted source of information.
On Wednesday, John Harbaugh shed light on the team's decision-making process, emphasizing that the Ravens weren't going to trade for someone out of desperation and for the sake of it.
"We’re not going to do something out of desperation by any stretch," Harbaugh said. "We have a really good roster. I love our guys. We have everything we need."
Any longshot chance of a potential Derrick Henry deal diminished even further at 4 pm ET today, when the deadline passed for him to restructure his contract ahead of Tuesday’s trade deadline. Henry has $5.5M left on his deal. “I don’t think it’s going to happen,” a source said.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 30, 2023
The Derrick Henry trade saga initially took an interesting turn with insights from Diana Russini of The Athletic, who, on Sunday, revealed that the Ravens were "actively exploring the possibility of adding a running back."
On Monday, however, ESPN insider Adam Schefter poured cold water on the case for a Henry trade, saying that the rusher would most probably have needed to restructure his contract before getting moved. With the deadline for that gone, the Ravens faced long odds to land him. "I don’t think it’s going to happen," he quoted a source telling him.
Cole Jackson's report, nonetheless, would have denied that source's beliefs. Turns out the source might have been right, and that everything was down to a numbers issue more than just the Titans owner allegedly vetoing any trade.
That said, for now, we don't truly know what went down before the deadline between both franchises and how negotiations unfolded.
Despite the trade rumors, the Ravens brass and coaches seemed happy with the strengths of their current roster. As Harbaugh told reporters Wednesday touching on the whole backfield drama: “Confident. We’re confident in Gus... Yes, we like our running backs a lot.”
The Ravens barely missed out on a blockbuster trade but you won't miss out on BetMGM's automatic $200 bonus! If you bet $10 or more on ANY Ravens vs. Seahawks wager, you'll INSTANTLY receive $200 in bonus bets to use freely. It's truly that easy - sign up for BetMGM now!