This trade scenario from Sports Illustrated's Peter King appears in his Monday Morning Quarterback column on SI.com:
Shortly after noon, Baltimore GM Ozzie Newsome offered St. Louis first-, second- and fourth-round picks this year and a third-rounder in 2009 for the Rams' first-round pick. In essence, to move up six spots in the first round, Baltimore was offering the 38th and 106th pick this year and, say, around the 80th pick next year. Tempting, St. Louis thought. So the Rams called Atlanta, at number three, asking for a second-round pick this year to swap spots. If St. Louis traded with Atlanta, the Rams would pick up a free first-day pick and still get Chris Long. If the Rams traded with Baltimore, they'd lose out on Long, the only legit pass-rusher they liked in this draft.
Though the Rams never asked, Baltimore was unwilling to sweeten the pot. I'm told a sweetener like next year's first-round pick instead of the third- would have gotten the deal done for St. Louis. Two reasons the Ravens didn't ratchet up the offer one last time. One: New offensive coordinator Cam Cameron loves Ryan, but he also likes Flacco and Henne, and he thinks Flacco might have the traits and the arm to be special. Two: New coach John Harbaugh wanted picks. He wanted an influx of talent for this first-year coaching staff to coach, and if they had to spend a mint to get Ryan, three or four of those bright prospects -- like second-round back Ray Rice -- would never have been Ravens today.
The Rams called the Ravens back and turned down the offer about five minutes before the draft began. "It was a really hard decision,'' said one of the Ram execs in the room. "But it was more about our belief in Chris Long and the fact that we thought he was the perfect pick for us more so than anything else. Anybody else but Chris Long, and we'd probably have done it. But when we walked out of the room and made the phone call to Baltimore, we were in 100 percent agreement that it was the right decision.''
Again, this is from King of SI.
