With the NFL trade deadline coming up later this month, the Baltimore Ravens pulled off a rare in-season deal Tuesday. The Ravens sent linebacker Kenny Young and a fifth-round pick in the 2020 NFL draft to the Los Angeles Rams for cornerback Marcus Peters.
Baltimore adds a capable cornerback, while Los Angeles picks up a little salary cap space and some help at linebacker.
Here are the winners and losers from this midseason trade:
Winner: Baltimore Ravens
You can boil this trade down to the Ravens getting a Pro Bowl cornerback in exchange for a fifth-round pick and a depth player. Just writing that sentence makes me feel dirty — like Baltimore stole from Los Angeles. Considering what the Jacksonville Jaguars got in exchange for Jalen Ramsey on Tuesday, the Ravens got a solid player at a steep discount here.
But it’s much more than that. The Ravens got a starter at a position they desperately need help at. While it won’t fix all their issues, it immediately helps their ailing secondary and gives them a quality player down the line for a playoff push and hopefully a deep playoff run.
Even if Peters ends up being a half-year rental, Baltimore wins in the end too. If Peters leaves in free agency after the season, the Ravens should net a third- or fourth-round compensatory pick in the 2021 NFL draft considering what starting, Pro Bowl-caliber cornerbacks earn on the open market. Arguably, it means Baltimore traded a fifth-round pick for a much more valuable earlier selection in the next draft. That’s a trade I think most general managers would sign off on pretty quickly, even without the player involved.
The Ravens massively upgraded their defense and gave up practically nothing to do it. That’s a huge win, no matter how you want to look at it.
Loser: Los Angeles Rams
It’s tough to see the Rams as winners here. They got little in return for Peters and then paid a small fortune for a cornerback who isn’t dramatically better.
Young had been benched in Week 5 as a healthy scratch. Even with Young active for Week 6 because of an injury to starter Patrick Onwuasor, he had no defensive snaps. Instead, Young watched the starting jobs go to two players who weren’t on the team two weeks ago. He definitely has talent, or Baltimore wouldn’t have relied on him so much early this season, but losing a job to players who were just signed doesn’t speak highly of Young.
The fifth-round pick is nice, but it’s doubtful Los Angeles will be able to find an immediate starter at any position with it, much less a cornerback of Peters’ caliber. Keep in mind that the Rams gave up second- and fourth-round picks for Peters when they dealt for him in early 2018.
Winner: DC Don Martindale
Martindale has had a tough job this season, dealing with the lack of production at a few positions as well as all the injuries. But with the trade, Martindale should breathe a sigh of relief.
Peters doesn’t fix everything by any means, but we shouldn’t see offenses attack quite as aggressively. In Week 6, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton went after cornerback Maurice Canady on several plays. Given the number of interceptions Peters has throughout his career, he’ll make an offense pay for trying that.
Having a player of Peters’ caliber on the opposite side of Marlon Humphrey will allow Martindale to play around with different coverage and blitzes. That should hopefully help a pass rush that hasn’t done much in the last two weeks. At the very least, it’s one less thing Martindale has to think a lot about.
Loser: CB Jimmy Smith
With Smith having played just six snaps this season, missing the last five games with a knee sprain, he has to be sweating after this trade. Peters is a former All-Pro and Pro Bowl cornerback having a solid season. Not only does this trade point to Smith not being terribly close to returning, but he might have just lost his expected starting job to Peters.
It’s a contract year for Smith, and his injury concerns likely seriously hurt his earning potential. But if Smith ends up being demoted to behind Humphrey and Peters when he does return, that would ultimately cost him millions of dollars in free agency.
