Vegas Still Loves the Ravens

I. Am. Back.

It’s been almost five years since I last wrote for Russell Street Report. I had stepped away as my kids started their own sports journeys because I simply did not have the time. Fast forward half a decade and life is even busier now with all three kids into everything under the sun, but I really missed being able to share my ramblings with you all.

I also want to thank Tony and Derek for giving me this opportunity to re-join at such an exciting time!

Now to level-set on where I am with the Ravens…

Hostage Situation

Lamar Jackson is holding this team hostage. I can’t really fault him, though—it’s good business. He knows he has the Ravens by the little DeCostas, and he’s using every bit of that leverage. While it’s not good for the team, the NFL is, at the end of the day, a business.

There is a segment of the Flock that wants the Ravens to trade him. At surface level, I don’t completely disagree with that thought; however, there are two major issues with it. First, the Ravens would incur a massive dead cap hit. That would severely limit their resources to put a contender on the field in the short term. Second—and I think most importantly—who are you getting to run this offense? Sure, there are other capable quarterbacks out there, but let’s be honest: Lamar is a unicorn.

He knows it, the Ravens know it, and he has this team all tied up.

DeCosta Playing Chess

We will never know the truth behind the whole Maxx Crosby situation, but you’ll never convince me that the Ravens weren’t using the rules to their advantage here. I believe, like many others, that this is the timeline of events:

• Ravens agree to trade for Maxx Crosby while also pursuing Trey Hendrickson.
• Hendrickson goes unsigned in the initial wave of free agency as Crosby comes in for his physical.
• The Ravens know that Crosby will fail his physical and have an out. Every good poker player knows what their outs are.
• They agree behind the scenes on terms with Hendrickson prior to officially failing Crosby and backing out of the trade. Checkmate.

Again, we really will never have any evidence that this is the timeline, but I think it makes too much sense. The Ravens, technically, did nothing wrong here, but it was absolutely a shady move.

My only fear is that this has unknown future ramifications when DeCosta is trying to make trades with other GMs.

Ravens’ Odds

For those of you who remember me, I wrote a piece called the “Back Door Cover” for RSR years ago. Sports betting has always been fascinating to me, and that passion hasn’t subsided over the past few years I’ve been in voluntary exile.

Per DraftKings, the Ravens are currently tied for the third-best odds to win the 2027 Super Bowl at +1000 and are tied with the Bills as favorites to win the AFC at +500. Last year, the Ravens were in a similar spot, odds-wise, but the fact that, after an underwhelming season, Vegas still thinks this highly of the Ravens is telling.

Even with all of the doubt and question marks around this team, I look more to these numbers to give us hope for the 2026-27 season to hopefully turn this around

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Source: https://russellstreetreport.com/2026/03/22/street-talk/vegas-still-loves-the-ravens/