If you’re a Baltimore Ravens news junkie, like we are, then you probably heard the report indicating the team was in line to acquire Derrick Henry, a year before they actually did.
The Ravens signed the long time Tennessee Titans tailback in March, on a two year, $16 million deal that could be worth up to $20 million in incentivized add-ons.
However, a report surfaced last week that Baltimore and Tennessee had reached an agreement in principle, in the middle of last season, to send Derrick Henry to Baltimore in exchange for a conditional third-round pick.
But the potential deal, per the report, got nixed when various members of the Titans upper chain of command were against the idea.
Titans General Manager Ran Carthon said this was all false reporting though.
“No, I wasn’t [offered that deal],” Carthon said.
“I don’t know where that came from, and that’s not my concern, but we had multiple teams call about Derrick and offer something that wasn’t worth taking, worth even considering, and I communicated that with Derrick during that time.
“But, no, we never agreed with anybody to do anything to move anybody.”
So the initial report was just fake news then?
Not so fast, actually.
Let’s flash back to March, when the Ravens held their Derrick Henry product rollout event. Carthon’s counterpart in Baltimore, Eric DeCosta, said there were trade talks in mid-season 2023.
“To be honest, we tried to trade for Derrick before the trade deadline,” DeCosta said.
“I thought there was a reasonable chance that we would get a trade done; it didn’t work out.”
Now that we’ve heard the three versions of the story, what really happened?
Well, only those in the room where it happened actually know for sure, but it sounds like this deal came very close to happening. In the end though, it seems that the Tennessee side was a little trigger shy.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.