Les Snead, general manager of the Los Angeles Rams, has a long history of making shrewd transactions, including ones that have helped the team win the Super Bowl. But now, a certain contract appears to be circulating due to a narrative from another general manager.
Eric DeCosta, general manager of the Baltimore Ravens, recently gave a speech at the Penn State Sports Business Conference. He talked about some of his past experiences as a top executive for an NFL franchise, including decisions he now regrets making and anecdotes from his formative years.
DeCosta has seen a lot while working for one of the most successful NFL teams in the contemporary age. One of his first moves as general manager, having been promoted at the beginning of the 2019 offseason, stood out to him. Not just because it helped the Ravens, but also because of the player’s situation.
To be honest, the guy was sort of a dumbass. He was a part of a deal that we thought was excellent. In the transaction, we acquired a decent player who turned out to be a fantastic asset to the team. Even though the coaches thought this guy was a moron, I had mixed feelings about sending him to the other side because he was a young draft pick.
DeCosta doesn’t mention the player by name, but it’s very obvious who the team is. The Rams sent linebacker Kenny Young and a draft selection to the Ravens in exchange for cornerback Marcus Peters in October 2019.
Young has only been out of the 2018 NFL Draft as the 122nd overall pick just a year before. Young, an All-Pac-12 linebacker for the UCLA Bruins, appeared to be in his element returning to Los Angeles. But as DeCosta said, the 6-foot-1 linebacker’s final impression on DeCosta appeared to confirm the coaching staff’s assessment that he was an emotional imbecile and a “idiot.”
“I call him on my phone, saying come up to my office, and I’m looking for him. He then approaches my workplace carrying an ice cream cone. Thus, I ask that you please take a seat. This is a genuine story: he grabs the ice cream cone and tries to toss it in my trash can, but he misses. I have all of this vanilla ice cream when it strikes the can’s side and rolls over the carpet. I go from feeling horrible about telling this guy I was trading him to actually being happy in a matter of seconds. “Dude, I traded you to the Rams,” I exclaimed. The act of flinging the ice cream cone was such a lack of emotional intelligence that I didn’t feel sorry for him at all.
Young went on to play 32 games over the course of three seasons for the Rams, making only 13 starts but accumulating 31 solo tackles and 3 sacks. Following his 2021 trade to the Denver Broncos for a sixth-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, he played his final two seasons on practice squads with the New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Las Vegas Raiders.
Regarding Peters, his arrival in Baltimore enhanced the secondary play of the Ravens. He led the NFL in pick-sixes (3) and interception return yards (210) at the end of the 2019 season, finishing with five interceptions. He played two more seasons in Baltimore, where he made 27 starts, and two of those pick-sixes came there.
