The Baltimore Ravens have had quite the eventful offseason, at one point appearing to have acquired star pass rusher Maxx Crosby from the Las Vegas Raiders before backing out after a failed physical. The Ravens then pivoted by signing fellow star Trey Hendrickson to a lucrative contract in free agency.
After the Crosby news was announced, Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta knew there would be public backlash, and he used his WWE fandom to spin it as a positive, invoking the idea of “turning heel,” where a sympathetic character turns villainous.
“I think (eventually) even Jimmy Snuka, who was one of my favorite guys, turned heel. So that expression really resonated with me. Someone said, ‘You turned heel,’ and I’m like, ‘Holy s—, I did! I’m reviled now by a lot of the football fans,’” he said, per Michael Silver of The Athletic.
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti also spoke on how the team handled DeCosta ultimately choosing to back out of the Crosby deal.
“We knew we were going to take a huge hit, so we did not do it lightly,” he said. “I said, ‘I understand the firestorm you’re walking into.’ It was very tough for him, because he’s the one that takes the bullets.”
The Ravens were indeed met with their fair share of backlash in the wake of the move, especially from Crosby himself, but ultimately, Baltimore decided that they needed to rescind the trade in order to feel comfortable about their future prospects.
They certainly got a good fallback option in Hendrickson, who has been among the best pass rushers in the NFL for the last several seasons as a member of the divisional rival Cincinnati Bengals.
Clearly, DeCosta is loving his new villain role in the NFL.
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