Despite receiving interest from numerous clubs with general manager vacancies, Ravens assistant general manager Eric DeCosta will remain in Baltimore, reports Albert Breer of NFL.com (Twitter link). DeCosta, 44, had been linked to GM openings in Chicago and New York, but instead he’ll opt to remain in his current role as Ozzie Newsome’s right-hand man.
DeCosta, who is contractually designated as the Ravens’ “GM-in-waiting,” has worked in Baltimore since 1996, rising through various scouting and personnel positions before being named assistant GM in 2012. As such, he’s had a hand in the drafting of stars like Ray Lewis, Jonathan Ogden, Terrell Suggs, and Haloti Ngata.
As Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes, DeCosta receives heavy interest in league circles every hiring season, but always opts to stay in Baltimore. It’s just my speculation, but DeCosta could look at the flameouts of former Ravens personnel men Phil Savage and George Kokinis (both in Cleveland), and decide to remain with Baltimore, viewed as one of the most stable organizations in the NFL. Indeed, Jason Cole of Bleacher Report tweets that because DeCosta is usually wooed by dysfunctional clubs, it makes more sense for him to stay with the Ravens.
Both the Bears and the Jets will look elsewhere for their new general manager, but it was New York that seemed most interested in DeCosta. Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News says that DeCosta would have been a “home-run hire” for Gang Green, adding that it’s fair to say that the NY GM job would have been his if he wanted it (Twitter links).