Ravens president addresses negative reactions to failed trade for Raiders' Maxx Crosby

General managers, executives and others throughout the NFL community have criticized the Baltimore Ravens after the club backed out of sending two first-round draft picks to the Las Vegas Raiders for star pass-rusher Maxx Crosby because he reportedly failed a physical. 

Per ESPN's Jamison Hensley and Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic, Ravens team president Sashi Brown spoke with reporters on Monday and suggested that negative reactions to the scrapped trade were related to "a slow news cycle." Brown also explained why he isn't worried that the saga will impact how other organizations view making deals with the Ravens moving forward. 

Ravens still have "strong and long relationships" after Maxx Crosby saga

"We've got strong and long relationships across the league," Brown insisted. "We have emphasized the importance of doing things the right way. We'll continue to do that. And we understand that it is a headline story because of its profile and significance. We believe our relationships, to the extent that you need time to repair them, people understand who we are and what we're about."

According to at least one report, people within the Ravens were worried about "a degenerative issue in" Crosby's knee after he underwent a meniscus repair in January. Nevertheless, Baltimore quickly signing former Cincinnati Bengals defensive star Trey Hendrickson to a four-year, $112M contract that included $60M in fully guaranteed money after the Crosby trade fell through raised eyebrows around the league. 

"When you have high-profile transactions like this and opportunities like this, it's unfortunate, but sometimes these things do happen -- no fault of Maxx, ours or the Raiders. It's just kind of how it played out," Brown continued. 

Ravens trust their process regarding not acquiring Maxx Crosby

The Ravens haven't publicly disclosed why Crosby isn't a Baltimore player this spring. That said, Brown was rather unapologetic about the team's decision to basically pick signing Hendrickson over giving up two valuable draft assets for Crosby. 

"We understand the need to report on these high-profile cases," Brown added. "We’re going to trust ourselves, and we have a ton of respect for Maxx and treat all of this with the right privacy and respect and dignity that it deserves. ...This is not the first time it’s going to happen. It will not be the last. I think everybody wants to be prudent through our processes. It’s unfortunate and rare, especially in a high-profile case like this, but that’s why the processes are in place." 

Ravens head coach Jesse Minter seems excited to have Hendrickson on the roster. It remains to be seen if the Ravens will be proven right or wrong about passing on Crosby.