Baltimore Beatdown is all about Almost Ravens this week! In addition to our reader-driven bracket narrowing down the biggest near-acquisitions in team history, our staff will also be providing their opinions on their favorite moves the Ravens almost pulled off. Today, we’re focusing on trades:
The Ravens’ near-signing of future Hall of Fame linebacker Bobby Wagner in 2022 is a really interesting one. Wagner himself had a solid year in Los Angeles with another second-team All-Pro berth and may have
stayed in Baltimore for a few years. And the Ravens likely would not have traded for Roquan Smith during the regular season and signed him to a long-term extension that has not aged well. Smith has been great in Baltimore, but it’s fair to wonder if a more moderate price for Wagner plus the second-round pick the Ravens sent to Chicago would have been a better allocation of resources. – Nikhil Mehta
My favorite player the Ravens almost signed is Darius Slay. While Slay was on the backend of his NFL journey in 2023-24, he was still playing well and likely would have been a great fit in Baltimore. Placing him alongside Marlon Humphrey, Kyle Hamilton and company could have paid dividends. Slay likely would helped sure up the team’s secondary and alleviate some of their issues allowing big passing plays in recent seasons. He profiled as the prototypical veteran who the Ravens sign and get high-level play out of late in their career. – Frank Platko
My personal favorite player the Ravens almost signed was Za’Darius Smith. When the deal with “Z” was announced, I was so thrilled for him to come back as a Raven. Looking back on it now, if Smith’s deal had stayed, with Mike Macdonald as the defensive coordinator in 2022 and 2023, he could have been an anchor for what would become one of the NFL’s most feared defenses while Macdonald was in Baltimore (once Macdonald got through his early kinks in 2022). Instead, everything went haywire. Smith back out of Baltimore’s four-year deal, then signed a three-year deal with Minnesota. He was then traded to Cleveland before the 2023 season, traded to Detroit in the middle of the 2024 season, signed with the Eagles at the start of the 2025 season, then retired after five games. I was devastated when I learned Smith had backed out with the Ravens.. – Zach Canter
While not my favorite player among the bunch, Ryan Grant has to be my personal favorite “almost signing” of the Ravens, purely for the hilarity that ensued. It’s no secret that Baltimore has historically struggled to field quality wide receivers, and this was never more true than the final few years of Joe Flacco’s tenure with the team. Entering the 2018 offseason, the Ravens desperately needed wide receiver help after the Jeremy Maclin signing did not pan out the season prior. Baltimore chose to bring in two veteran free agents ahead of the draft in John Brown and Ryan Grant. Brown, a speedster coming from Arizona, was given a modest one-year deal worth up to $6.5 million with incentives. Grant, on the other hand, was oddly given a four-year, $29 million deal despite totaling just 985 receiving yards in his first four seasons with Washington. Fans were rightfully puzzled by the signing. As with Maxx Crosby though, a failed physical nixed the deal, which ultimately led to the team signing a much more accomplished veteran wide receiver in Michael Crabtree, who had just been released by the Raiders. Grant fizzled out, playing just two more seasons in the NFL, ultimately proving the Ravens right for backing out of the deal due to health concerns, but the decision to give him such a contract in the first place baffles me to this day. – Dustin Cox
