Head Coach John Harbaugh had to do something Saturday that had never happened before in his coaching career.
He had to pull a player out of a drill because he’d been traded in the middle of practice.
The player was undrafted rookie center Nick Easton
, who the Ravens dealt to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for an undisclosed draft pick.
“Telling a guy at practice he got traded, I don’t remember that ever happening,” Harbaugh said.
“He’s excited about it and I think it’s a great statement for him. To come from Harvard as an undrafted rookie free agent, to earn your way onto an NFL football team is a pretty amazing accomplishment. He’s to be congratulated on that.”
Harbaugh didn’t announce the round of the draft pick the Ravens received.
The Harvard product has been one of the team’s most consistent players during the preseason, earning the Ravens’ top overall grade (plus-9.1) from Pro Football Focus. His grade from PFF is actually highest of any center the preseason and the seventh-best grade of any position player in the NFL.
Easton was a candidate to make Baltimore’s roster, but he was buried on the depth chart behind Jeremy Zuttah and John Urschel. The team decided to seek a deal for Easton, which speaks to the Ravens front office because they signed him as an undrafted player and then turned that move into a future draft pick a few months later.
“That’s what we aim to do,” Harbaugh said. “When opportunities like this happen, and they don’t happen all the time, it’s definitely a feather in the cap of the scouts, and all the guys doing the evaluating, including the coaches.”
The trade is part of the Ravens trimming their roster to 53 players by Saturday’s 4 p.m. deadline. The team still has 16 additional roster moves to make.
Head Coach John Harbaugh had to do something Saturday that had never happened before in his coaching career.
He had to pull a player out of a drill because he’d been traded in the middle of practice.
The player was undrafted rookie center Nick Easton, who the Ravens dealt to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for an undisclosed draft pick.
“Telling a guy at practice he got traded, I don’t remember that ever happening,” Harbaugh said.
“He’s excited about it and I think it’s a great statement for him. To come from Harvard as an undrafted rookie free agent, to earn your way onto an NFL football team is a pretty amazing accomplishment. He’s to be congratulated on that.”
Harbaugh didn’t announce the round of the draft pick the Ravens received.
The Harvard product has been one of the team’s most consistent players during the preseason, earning the Ravens’ top overall grade ( plus-9.1) from Pro Football Focus. His grade from PFF is actually highest of any center the preseason and the seventh-best grade of any position player in the NFL.
Easton was a candidate to make Baltimore’s roster, but he was buried on the depth chart behind Jeremy Zuttah and John Urschel. The team decided to seek a deal for Easton, which speaks to the Ravens front office because they signed him as an undrafted player and then turned that move into a future draft pick a few months later.
“That’s what we aim to do,” Harbaugh said. “When opportunities like this happen, and they don’t happen all the time, it’s definitely a feather in the cap of the scouts, and all the guys doing the evaluating, including the coaches.”
The trade is part of the Ravens trimming their roster to 53 players by Saturday’s 4 p.m. deadline. The team still has 16 additional roster moves to make.
