Las Vegas Raiders general manager John Spytek got blindsided by Eric DeCosta and the Baltimore Ravens last week when they backed out of a trade for Maxx Crosby. The whole situation feels slimy, and it's not Spytek's fault, but the second-year decision-maker can learn a valuable lesson from it.
And, no, it's not as simple as, "don't do business with DeCosta and the Ravens." Although that is a part of it. Baltimore has a history of pulling similar stunts, and in all honesty, they took advantage of a relatively inexperienced general manager, even if Spytek has done a great job and shown promise.
Just as rookies need to adjust to the NFL and should be given the grace to learn on the job, coaches and general managers should as well. There are just things you cannot understand, anticipate or plan for until you're in that situation, and oftentimes, it is too late.
John Spytek needs to learn from failed Maxx Crosby trade with Ravens
Spytek's first mistake, of course, was taking DeCosta and the Ravens at their word. They've backed out of free agent agreements and cited failed physicals before, and Spytek could have had some sort of guardrail in place so that the damage wasn't so seemingly significant for Las Vegas.
Having five days between the agreement and the deal being official is a lot of time, especially when Baltimore is not planning to do the physical until the fourth day. Spytek should have asked that the physical be moved up, or backed out himself if it hadn't taken place by Monday morning.
That way, he knew exactly what resources and roster he was going into free agency with. He entirely put the ball in the Ravens' court, and they don't always operate on the up-and-up. Again, this is not Spytek's fault, but he could have mitigated the disaster better, and he will if there's a next time.
Crosby was traded on a Friday, and he didn't have his physical until Tuesday. Most of the time, these players fly out the following morning or at some point the next day, but Crosby didn't get there until Monday night, when the Raiders had already agreed to several massive deals.
Yes, Crosby's six-year sobriety party was on Saturday night, but Baltimore could have sent the team jet to Las Vegas on Sunday morning and had him out there by Sunday afternoon, performed his physical, and made a decision. Spytek would have then known Crosby's fate by Monday morning.
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According to NFL insider Jason La Canfora, some other NFL general managers and executives felt that, while Spytek and the Raiders were done dirty by the Ravens, some of it was avoidable. Or, at the very least, Las Vegas could have also handled things better on its end.
"They were naïve about how they handled this,” said one NFL executive. “The Ravens have a reputation. You either tell them that they have to do the deal not contingent on a physical, because there is no way he is being cleared for football activities in March, or you give them 48 hours to evaluate the player, and you make sure you get closure on that before they can get cold feet, or pivot to an alternative."
"It’s easy to say after the fact, and I really feel bad for John, because I know he was blindsided," one GM said. "But giving them that much time to sit on this thing was a bad idea. Five days or whatever it was, that’s way too long."
Spytek also got credit from the aforementioned executive because of how he and the Raiders handled this situation.
“I have to give them a lot of credit,” the executive said. “They took the high road and come out of this looking great. Crosby is an animal. Watch, he’s going to have his best season. He’ll use this as motivation.”
Hopefully, Spytek also uses this as motivation and learns something from it. To put it in football terms: It was a rookie mistake of sorts, even if his teammate (or, in this case, trade partner) was the one to truly mess up or put him in this situation. He'll be better for it. And the Ravens screwed themselves.