Late For Work 4/29: Brady Quinn: Ravens Almost Traded Up To Draft Me

Brady Quinn: Ravens Almost Traded Up To Draft Me
Brady Quinn instead of Joe Flacco as the Ravens franchise quarterback?

That's what almost happened, Quinn revealed Monday night on the NFL Network.

In 2007, the story of the draft was the Notre Dame prospect falling down the board. And the further he fell, the more sense it made to Baltimore brass to snag him. Quinn said the Ravens planned on taking him with the No. 23 pick, implying they were going to trade up six spots to get him.

At least, that was the plan until the Browns swooped in and grabbed pick No. 22 – just one spot ahead of the Ravens' supposed planned move.

"Here's something that a lot of people don't know," Brady said on "Path to the Draft" in the video below. "During that [No. 22] pick, I was on the phone with the Baltimore Ravens the entire time. So, I was talking to (general manager) Ozzie Newsome ... coach (Brian) Billick and coach (Rick) Neuheisel, because I hadn't interviewed with them, hadn't worked out for them or anything."

Unbeknownst to the Ravens and Quinn, while they were on the phone, the Browns were wheeling and dealing, giving up their future 2008 first-round pick, plus a 2007 second-round pick to secure the quarterback.

"All of a sudden, with like a minute left, I get a call from a 216 area code, which happened to be Cleveland," Brady said. "It was the Browns calling to tell me they were trading up to the 22nd pick."

NFL Network host Daniel Jeremiah, who was a member of the Ravens scouting staff at that time, confirmed Quinn's story, saying Baltimore was seriously interested.

"And this is the thing you don't know," Jeremiah said to Quinn. "I was in that Baltimore Ravens draft room when we were talking to you on the phone and having that discussion about 'Are we going to take Brady Quinn? We can't believe he's still on the board.'"

In the end, the Ravens kept their No. 29 pick and selected future Pro Bowl guard Ben Grubbs and waited until 2008 to nab their future $120 million quarterback with the 18th-overall selection in Flacco.

I'd say things worked out pretty well for the Ravens.

Flacco earned the Super Bowl XLVII MVP honors, leading the franchise to its second Lombardi Trophy. Quinn never got his career going in Cleveland, and has bounced around between six NFL teams with a career 4-16 record. He is now a free agent looking for work.

"U]ltimately [the Browns] did the Ravens [a huge favor," wrote CSNBaltimore.com's Bo Smolka.

Flacco, Rice Among Most Popular NFL Players

Despite one of the most difficult seasons of their careers in 2013, Flacco and running back Ray Rice remain among the most popular players in the NFL.

The Ravens offensive leaders made the NFL Players' top 50 player sales list, putting their overall retail sales rank as the 28th (Rice) and 35th (Flacco) highest. That puts Rice as the fifth-most popular running back and Flacco the 14th-most popular quarterback.

The time frame the NFLPA measures sales from is March 1, 2013 through Feb. 28, 2014, which started shortly after the Ravens' Super Bowl victory and continued through the team's 8-8 season and Rice's domestic violence arrest.

The top-50 list below is released quarterly by NFL Players Inc., the marketing and licensing arm of the NFL Players Association, and is based on total overall sales of all licensed products.

Ravens Draft Trade That Makes Sense

Draft trade chatter has been picking up recently, and some of it revolves around the Ravens trading back.

ESPN's Mark Dominik (the former GM of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) says a trade between the Harbaugh brothers this year would make a lot of sense. Dominik suggests the San Francisco 49ers trade the No. 30 and No. 56 picks to the Ravens for the No. 17 pick.

By moving up, Dominik thinks the 49ers could grab a wide receiver to help their vertical game and complement bigger receivers Anquan Boldin and Michael Crabtree.

"They aren't likely to find that guy with the 30th pick, but there should be some appealing options at No. 17," wrote Dominik. "A guy like Oregon State's Brandin Cooks or LSU's Odell Beckham Jr. would transform a very good offense into an explosive one.

"For the Ravens, this would give them the opportunity to add a second-round pick in a really deep draft, and they can still get a very good player with the 30th overall pick. General Manager Ozzie Newsome has done a great job at finding value outside of the top few picks in the draft – Ray Lewis, Todd Heap, Ed Reed and Jimmy Smith are some notable examples – which is another reason for them to feel good about moving back in this scenario."

If this deal were to be made, the Ravens would have three of the first 56 picks in the draft. And Newsome does have a history of making moves (or attempted moves) in the first round, which ProFootballTalk.com reviewed yesterday. He has done so in 1999, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012.

Quick Hits

• Rice's arraignment date was moved from April 28 to May 1 (Thursday) at 8:45 a.m. Rice is expected to enter his plea on a third-degree aggravated assault charge against his now wife Janay Palmer. [PressofAtlanticCity.com]
• @RavensInsider: LaQuan Williams' one-year deal with the Ravens is $570,000, no guaranteed money, includes a split salary … Ravens' updated salary-cap figure is $6.246 million under NFL limit of $133 million with 63 contracts [Twitter]
• @MaryKayCabot: #Browns Ray Farmer confirmed that Vince Young is trying out for #Browns this week along with former #Chiefs QB Tyler Thigpen. [Twitter]
• @ChrisCanty: #Vote for me 3 times a day! #AllStarsGiving #ASG [Twitter]
• @LWebb21: @ElamVsElo @ALevine34 @BrandonW66 @JameelMcClain are all playing in my Softball game [Twitter]
• Utz takes over as salty snacks partner of the Baltimore Ravens. As part of the new sponsorship agreement, Utz will be the exclusive provider of potato chips, tortilla chips and pretzels at M&T Bank Stadium concession stands. The company also plans to launch special edition Ravens-inspired products. Yum! [Baltimore Business Journal]      
• Darius Heyward-Bey says even his own family will struggle to root talks about giving back to the Baltimore community with Glenn) for him against the Ravens. [WNST]
• @Ravens: Beyoncé & JAY Z's #OnTheRunTour is coming to #Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium this summer! Tickets on sale this Friday. [Twitter]

• @WNST: Nestor: This pic says it all: #JennStrong is coming home TOMORROW after 40 days in leukemia lockdown [Twitter]