The Trade: How It Went Down

The process for the Ravens to give up their first-round draft pick to acquire more choices began about two weeks ago.  

At that point, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, New England Patriots and Denver Broncos, all of whom held two second-round selections, had contacted Baltimore.

By the end of the draft's first night, the Ravens sent No. 25 to the Denver Broncos for their 43rd-, 70th- and 114th-overall picks, giving them seven total headed into the latter rounds.

General Manager Ozzie Newsome said the offer was simply too sweet when Denver's price rose "at least three times" following an initial call Thursday morning.

"As the draft unfolded, they kept increasing the offer," Newsome said.  "As we started looking at the board and understanding our football team right now, having the opportunity to get extra picks, now we have seven picks in this draft.  We've always felt that this was a draft that could be beneficial to us if we had multiple picks."

It marked the first time Newsome has ever traded entirely out of the opening round in franchise history, but nobody in the Ravens' war room is necessarily sweating.

If anything, the wait until 6 p.m. Friday, when the second round begins, will be all the more agonizing.

"There were some people, like [Ravens owner] Steve [Bisciotti], who were very happy," said Director of Player Personnel Eric DeCosta. "Draft picks are like currency, and we have more money now to play with tomorrow.  I thought I would be able to sleep tonight knowing who our first-round pick is, but now I'll be up all night again.  As Ozzie said, let's just call the Commissioner and keep this thing going. We're fired up.  

"It's a weird feeling.  I think everyone is mulling the possibilities of the players we can get, but we just don't have them yet."

The lynchpin behind the deal was former Florida quarterback Tim Tebow.

Newsome said he sensed buzz around the highly-decorated passer from the Broncos and perhaps another suitor.  

When Tebow's name was still available heading into the mid-20s, Newsome's phone began to heat up.

"I guess [the Broncos] had their mind set on getting that quarterback," Newsome explained.  "There were some other people looking to get into that spot, too, we think might have been trying to get to that same player."

Even after trading out of the first round, Newsome inquired about getting back in when several prospects that had been on the Ravens' radar remained.  

But, the Arizona Cardinals snapped up Tennessee defensive tackle Dan Williams, Rutgers cornerback Devin McCourty went to the New England Patriots and Boise State's Kyle Wilson was tabbed by the New York Jets, to name a few.

"We made some calls to the bottom of the first round," said Newsome, citing a scenario where the Ravens could simply switch pick position with another team.  "We had some scenarios where we could get back into the first round without giving any picks, just moving around a little bit.

"We did make some calls, but all three of those teams chose to pick."

The Ravens now head back to review their own board.

Under the draft's previous format, that would occur between the third and fourth rounds.

This time, however, there is much more riding on a second round stocked with talent.

"We are used to adjusting our board, so we'll be able to do it tonight," noted Newsome.  "We'll do it tonight before we go home, but then we'll be able to set, have all day tomorrow to massage it some more."