Terrance West's account of how he became a Cleveland Brown is false.
The Baltimore-bred Towson product said the Ravens were going to draft him at pick No. 99 in the third round before the Cleveland Browns traded up to snag him at pick No. 94.
"They texted my agent and told him they were going to take me," the running back told The Cleveland Plain Dealer. "The Browns came up before them and I'm here now. It's all about the Browns, man."
Whether the Ravens truly wanted West or not is unknown. But one thing is for sure.
The Ravens did not text West's agent ahead of time.
"The report that we texted an agent or a player before one of our picks is fictitious," Assistant General Manager Eric DeCosta told BaltimoreRavens.com on Monday.
The Ravens would never text or call a player or his agent ahead of the pick. That would be putting themselves at a competitive disadvantage.
If information got out that a team was targeting a specific player, it could invite trades from other teams to leapfrog ahead. No team would ever want that. The Ravens, and all teams, highly guard who their selection will be.
West's agent, Marc Lillbridge, cleared up the report himself on Twitter. (Mobile users click "View In Browser" above)
The @Ravens DID NOT text me and say they were selecting @Terrancewest28 w/ pick 99. Like any good agent, I had prepared a list of teams who — Marc Lillibridge (@NFLBridge) May 19, 2014
(cont.) Showed sincere interest in Terrance. The Ravens were one of those teams. I texted him throughout entire 3rd round. The Browns traded — Marc Lillibridge (@NFLBridge) May 19, 2014
(Cont.) up and got their man. End of story. Can we now just play some football? — Marc Lillibridge (@NFLBridge) May 19, 2014
