Eric DeCosta on Diontae Johnson, Toughest Lesson Learned From Ozzie Newsome, and More

General Manager Eric DeCosta sat down for an interview with Todd McShay for The Ringer’s “The McShay Show” podcast, which dropped yesterday.

Here are some highlights from the dialog:

Why the Ravens reportedly claimed WR Diontae Johnson after chopping him: “People have been like, ‘What the hell are the Ravens doing? They lower the man. He goes to Houston and will get lower, and the Ravens declare him. He cannot play for anyone now.’ Well, we did that as a result of there is a small likelihood that he indicators a contract for greater than $2.5 million, and if he does that, he qualifies for a comp decide. So these are the issues that actually inspire me. How will we achieve a small benefit? How will we achieve a giant benefit? You can go get Derrick Henry, you get an enormous benefit. For me, a part of the joy is, how will we simply preserve getting all these small benefits that roll into one thing massive?”

Toughest lesson he realized from former GM Ozzie Newsome: “You typically should do what’s proper for the group although you realize it is the mistaken factor to do. We had a participant that traditionally was one of many nice Ravens of all time, Anquan Boldin. He simply epitomized what it’s to be a Raven. When you went into Pittsburgh, you needed Anquan. The actuality of it was we have been in a nasty cap state of affairs and we needed to commerce him. And we did not get a lot for him. It was a horrible soccer choice, however we needed to do it, and it was exhausting. I feel typically it’s a must to simply settle for that it’s a must to make the exhausting choice. We may’ve made it work. We may’ve most likely finagled some contracts, achieved some cap offers. We most likely would’ve put ourselves in a worse place in future years had we achieved that.

“So my first 12 months as GM, 2019, we acquired to the primary day of the brand new league 12 months and we misplaced Za’Darius Smith, Terrell Suggs, Eric Weddle, and C.J. Mosley. Four legit Pro Bowl gamers. We could not signal them again. … And I used to be simply getting crushed. Literally new on the job. ‘What the hell is that this man doing?’ It was exhausting. I may have finagled a method to preserve a few of these guys on the workforce most likely. Could’ve overpaid C.J. I may’ve most likely saved Weddle for one more 12 months. We may’ve overpaid Suggs. But it wasn’t the appropriate factor to do at that second for the membership. And so I needed to simply eat it. … I realized that from Ozzie.”

Missing on draft picks: “We make errors. I may offer you 5 guys we made errors on. Bad errors. Like I actually would’ve mentioned to you, ‘This man’s a stone-cold murderer. He’s one of many best picks we have ever had.’ And then six months later I’m going, ‘Oh my god, this man’s completely horrible. Why did I decide this man?’ And it occurs yearly. We need to be proper about 75 p.c of the time. If we might be proper about 75 p.c of the time, we’ll be higher than many of the different groups.”

Trading again into the primary spherical in 2018 to get Lamar Jackson: “[Eagles GM] Howie [Roseman] was keen to commerce out of 32 and take our second. So we ended up drafting Hayden Hurst at 25. Kevin Byrne, our PR man, needed us to go downstairs to the press convention. I mentioned, ‘Kevin, let’s simply maintain off.’ The scouts and coaches thought we have been achieved. So Steve Bisciotti’s throughout the [room], speaking to John [Harbaugh], they’re high-fiving, no matter. I checked out Ozzie and I am going, ‘Let’s name Howie.’ So I name Howie. He says, ‘I need to do it.’ So I checked out Ozzie, I mentioned, ‘Get Lamar on the cellphone.’ Ozzie known as Lamar. I’m on the cellphone with Howie. We did the commerce. We turned it in. No one within the room even knew that we have been doing it. No one was paying consideration. And then impulsively I am going, ‘Hey guys, we simply acquired Lamar Jackson.’ And the room simply went loopy.”