With Washington, Chicago and New Orleans swapping a variety of picks – remember this is the draft that Mike Ditka gave away the entire weekend for Ricky Williams – it wasn’t clear what was going to happen. Holt went No. 6 to St. Louis, the Redskins took Georgia’s Champ Bailey at No. 7 (incidentally, one veteran Ravens scout liked to call him “Mrs. Bailey” in run support and another said McAlister would “eat Bailey’s ass for lunch” – the Ravens had little interest) and Boston went to Arizona at No. 8.
Detroit was on the clock with the ninth pick. It was pretty clear they were in need of linebacking help, and USC’s Chris Claiborne was quickly selected.
The room celebrated. That big stud from Tucson was going to be a Raven.
“Redemption” was in full swing!
You never know when your franchise’s destiny will take a turn, but rest assured the chances of it happening on the third Saturday of April are better than any other day of the calendar year.
Late into the afternoon, the Ravens were watching the picks come off the board and waiting at No. 42 to make their selection. After Syracuse wide receiver Kevin Johnson was taken at No. 32 by the Browns, the team was trying to figure out a quality pick for the offense to help Billick. The only running back of quality left was Kevin Faulk of LSU, and he wouldn’t be an upgrade over Priest Holmes.
Once the team got on the clock at dinner time, the phone immediately began ringing. Teams knew the Ravens’ needs and knew of their lack of picks and saw a spot to deal. The Ravens weren’t going to pick at No. 42. They were going to deal. It was just a matter of to where and for what.
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The Vikings and Denny Green, Billick’s old boss, were offering their 2nd, 3rd, 5th and Everett Lindsay for the pick. Wow! A 59, 91, 169 and a current player for the 42 – certainly a deal worth considering.
Incidentally, it’s also worth noting that Denver had called earlier in the day offering their entire draft for the 10th pick. Of course, because they had won the Super Bowl three months earlier, they picked last in every round, so the Ravens wouldn’t have begun their day until No. 31. Nice deal, but not realistic.
At the last minute, the Atlanta Falcons became a player in the sweepstakes for No. 42. The reigning NFC champions were offering next year’s No. 1 pick for the rights to the pick.
The debate roared in the war room.
Savage was clearly against anything that wouldn’t bring the team more picks. Remember, this was “The Redemption Draft,” and he and his staff were ready. He called his draft board “flawless.” He wanted the picks from Minnesota and a chance to make some noise.
Billick was in favor of anything that brought more players onto the roster, especially on the offense. The team had again already used its No. 1 on a defensive player in McAlister.
David Modell gave a history lesson about the Jamie Sharper decision two years earlier and how it cost the team a chance at a lottery pick. “That No. 42 is silver, next year’s No. 1 is gold,” Modell said. Modell had harped on enough people in the organization that if the chance ever came again, the team should take a chance on winning a bigger prize. “Everyone in the room was aware of how David felt,” said one insider. “He didn’t let it sleep that the organization could have had the third pick in the draft and was afraid to pull the trigger.”
8Most felt that the combination of a strong new coach in Billick and the influence of Savage would be enough to get the Vikings deal done. Newsome, however, was leaning toward the future and remembered the Sharper selection as well.
Newsome heard everyone out and made a fast and firm decision. He instructed Ravens’ Assistant Director of Pro Personnel George Kokinis to “call it in. We’re trading with the Falcons.”
The room grew silent, and Savage and Billick sat in the back and stewed, publicly and privately.
“I was absolutely pissed,” Billick now says. “I don’t know that I’ve ever been that angry.”
“I think there was a feeling that the new guy (Billick) was going to get anything he wanted,” one insider said. “Art had always operated that way. The new guy always knew the most.”
More than anything, the veterans in the room were shocked because Newsome just completely pulled rank.
“It gets tense in that room and everybody’s nuts get real tight when you’re on the clock and you need to make a decision in two minutes that you know will affect you for five years,” a scout told me. “Ozzie showed a lot of balls. He just went with his gut feeling.”
8“I’m not the play caller in that room,” Billick said. “It’s Ozzie. It gets back to having a structure and sticking with it. It’s just like on the sidelines. Everyone has an opinion. There are times when you can have too much advice. Our system is set up to have Ozzie make the call. And he did.”
The Falcons utilized the pick to select tight end Reggie Kelly from Mississippi State.
Without another pick the remainder of the day, Savage and his scouting staff were absolutely at rock bottom.
“We get on airplanes, drive around the country, living in hotel rooms, literally putting every moment of our lives into our work,” Savage said. “We live for these two days a year and for using what we know about these players to help the team. To not even be able to pick was devastating.”
You should know that it wasn’t just Savage who was depressed. His staff – Eric DeCosta, Ron Marciniak, T.J. McCreight, Terry McDonough, Vince Newsome, Art Perkins and Kokinis – were all in a state of disbelief.
“I was ready to leave the Ravens,” Savage said. “It just wasn’t worth all that we put into the draft to only be able to pick four or five players a year. It was hard to face my guys and get them motivated for another year.”
With a pair of No. 1 picks in hand for the next year, the staff arose the next morning enraged, but ready to do their best to utilize their four remaining picks.
8Everyone in the room liked a smallish wide receiver from the bayou of Southwest Louisiana named Brandon Stokley. He had great hands, ran impeccable routes and was the son of a coach. Big guard Edwin Mulitalo had also been stumbled upon while scouting McAlister at Arizona.
Newsome and Savage had the board scoped out and believed they could take Stokley at 105 and still see Mulitalo’s name on the board at 129. They were correct.
After dealing their remaining sixth-round pick to the Vikings for offensive lineman Everett Lindsay, one of Billick’s henchmen in Minnesota, Savage came back to life at the end of the draft on that Sunday.
The board was emaciated by the time the Ravens got to pick at No. 216 in the seventh round. Most of the people in the room didn’t have a strong opinion and morale was especially low with the draft winding down and just three names under the Ravens ledger for what was to be “The Redemption Draft.”
Everyone was scanning the bottom of the board – literally a huge chalkboard wall that spanned the length of the room – with not much to say.
Finally with the pick about to arrive, owner Art Modell said, “What about that guy up there?” referring to the lone name at the top of the board, whose name hadn’t been removed.
The name was that of Virginia safety Anthony Poindexter.
8Savage’s first recollection of meeting Poindexter was seeing him on crutches at the combine in Indianapolis two months earlier. He was virtually crippled, having blown out three ligaments in his knee. He was a consensus first-round pick prior to the seventh game of his senior season when he was hurt in Raleigh, N.C., and he was in no shape to work out in Indy. He knew his chances of getting drafted were slim at best – especially when they saw how bad his injury really was in person – but he felt like he wanted to be part of the action and wanted to meet some NFL people. Most scouts had written him off.
“I spent some time talking to him and I could tell he was a special person,” Savage said. “He looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘I will be back.’ I still get chills thinking about it because I knew he believed he would play in the NFL.”
Poindexter’s agent had sent tapes around to NFL scouts in March trying somehow, someway to get the kid drafted despite the injury.
“Here was A.P. on the roof of someplace in San Francisco working with a rehab trainer, and you could see the pain in his face doing these exercises,” Savage said. “You could see the sheer determination. He had tears in his eyes because it was agonizing. I started crying watching him. It was that emotional because you could see how bad this guy wanted it.”
When Modell pointed out his name, Savage smiled and began the campaign.
“There were guys out there getting drafted with drug problems, drinking problems, violence problems, and here’s a guy with first-round ability and a character and work ethic that was impeccable, and he’s still on the board in the seventh round,” Savage said. “Everybody’s willing to take a chance on these other losers and this kid can’t get a break.”
The organization’s belief in trainer Bill Tessendorf helped seal the deal. Poindexter was going to join his old college buddy Jamie Sharper in Baltimore.
“Drafting Poindexter saved me from jumping out of my office window that day,” Savage said.
