The Baltimore Ravens have always done what they believe is best for them, regardless of how often the league changes or other teams do different things. A prime example of that is when the team decided to lean into a run-heavy offense in 2019 despite most of the NFL becoming primarily a passing league.
Baltimore Ravens general manager DeCosta spoke to the media on Wednesday at the 2022 NFL Scouting Combine, and was asked about finding ways to stay one step ahead of opponents. DeCosta talked about how teams tend to copy trends after a short amount of time.
“Yes, I mean everybody copies you. If you have a good idea, it’s going to last about six weeks, and then someone else is going to do it. You always have to try and be ahead. So, a few years ago, I would say Lamar [Jackson] was probably a little different from everybody else, but now you see a lot of quarterbacks that have some of the same types of skills. No one is exactly the same, but the game is changing dramatically in many different ways, from decision-making … You see coaches now going for it on fourth down; you didn’t see that three [or] four [or] five years ago. The rise of analytics, the mobile quarterback, things like that … Years ago, for instance, we felt like we had an opportunity to collect ‘comp’ [compensatory] picks, and it took a long time for other teams to catch up. Now, everybody is doing it. It’s just that when you have a good idea, somebody else is going to come along and cannibalize it.”
As DeCosta mentions, the team was one of the first to truly take advantage of the compensatory pick formula, and soon other teams followed in their footsteps. The team will always be looking for new and creative ways to get ahead, but when they do it won’t be long before other teams start utilizing a similar strategy.