The Baltimore Ravens had the 16th pick in the NFL Draft, but they decided to trade it away in a deal with the Buffalo Bills for additional picks. One pick later, Derwin James went to the Los Angeles Charger in what was considered one of the steals of the draft.

In an interview with BaltimoreRavens.com's podcast, The Lounge, assistant general manager Eric DeCosta revealed that the team were very high on James and would have picked the safety had they stayed put at No. 16.

“I thought Derwin James was one of the best players in the draft,” DeCosta added, “but … the value of this draft was really the third, fourth, fifth round. So for us to go back and get additional picks made a lot of sense. As hard as it was moving away from Derwin James, we felt like it was the right thing to do for this club.”

The Ravens picked up the Bills’ first- and third-round picks for the 16th pick, which they then parlayed into even more picks in other deals.

The addition of an impactful and versatile playmaker in James to an already formidable Ravens defense would have been interesting. However, the team does still have one of the best free safeties in the game in Eric Weddle, who still isn’t showing signs of slowing down even at age 33.

DeCosta, who will be taking over for Newsome as the Ravens GM, will have to go look for a long-term replacement at that position in the near future after passing up on James. But the team decided to go with quantity over quality for the greater good of the team, and only time will tell whether they made the right call.