Mink: Don’t think of the trade deadline as shopping at Costco, where anything you could possibly want is at your fingertips. While there were a couple jaw-dropping moves made by the New York Jets shipping out young superstars Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams, there wasn’t a surge of trade volume.
Since the start of the season through the trade deadline, only one offensive lineman was dealt. Trevor Penning, a former first-round offensive tackle who has struggled and transitioned to left guard, was dealt from the Saints to the Chargers. While we don’t know what calls the Ravens made or who teams put on the trade block, the fact that only one offensive lineman around the whole league was dealt indicates that it wasn’t a rich market.
Plus, the Ravens believe in their offensive line and feel guards Daniel Faalele and Andrew Vorhees are improving. Baltimore’s offensive line ranks 18th in the NFL, according to Pro Football Focus. While it hasn’t been a team strength, the Ravens clearly didn’t feel it was a weakness worth spending major resources (or any) to upgrade.
It’s a similar story at defensive tackle. Williams was the only one to get moved and the Cowboys gave up first- and second-round picks to get him. The Ravens were never going to make that big a move because it’s not part of their team philosophy of protecting first-round picks, drafting, and developing.
Adding Dre’Mont Jones for considerably less does benefit the Ravens in the trenches. He’s a physical outside linebacker who will have a ripple effect on the entire defensive front.
Again, we’ll likely never know if the Ravens were “close” on making other deals. I thought they could pick up a defensive lineman, but obviously they didn’t feel there was a good trade to make (or perhaps any even on the table).