Taking accountability and being transparent about making mistakes are two attributes that make a great leader. Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta proved he possesses both of these desirable and admirable traits when asked about why the acquisitions of Diontae Johnson and Eddie Jackson didn’t work out at the end-of-season press conference on Wednesday.

Both players are former Pro Bowlers who incited excitement from the fan base and organization and earned DeCosta praise because they were viewed as savvy low-cost-high-reward moves at the time they were made. Unfortunately, neither worked out in the Ravens’ favor and each ended with the veteran player being disgruntled about their respective roles before ultimately being released during the regular season.

Johnson was acquired via trade from the Carolina Panthers ahead of the midseason deadline with the hopes of providing depth behind established starters Zay Flowers and Rashod Bateman and usurping Nelson Agholor as the No. 3 on the depth chart once he got acclimated. The former Pittsburgh’s reputation for being the stereotypical diva who is not happy about winning if he’s not heavily involved proved to be true. The fact that the Panthers were willing to part with him for essentially nothing—late-round pick swap—and eat the majority of his salary to get him out of town should’ve been a huge red flag in hindsight and DeCosta acknowledged as much knowing he was incredible value and the inherent risk.

“I think we looked at it as a chance for us to strengthen a position group, potentially, [with] a guy we’ve played against a lot,” DeCosta said. “I think we did our homework. We understood the risks and the rewards. [We] didn’t look at it as cost prohibitive. It was a relatively inexpensive deal for us to make, in many ways. We knew that it wasn’t 100% going to be a slam dunk. It didn’t work out. We always try to mitigate our risks. One of the jobs of a general manager is to mitigate your risk and look at the downside and the upside and see how it works out. In that particular situation, I really didn’t see a lot of downside. I think we understood what the downside might be – that he would be unhappy with his role, potentially.”

Johnson’s first stint with the Ravens lasted just six weeks during which he appeared in just four games, recorded one catch for six yards on five targets and was suspended for two games before being waived. He quickly got picked up by the Houston Texans ahead of their regular season Christmas matchup with the Ravens and saw action in just two games before getting waived again ahead of the divisional round of the playoffs.

In yet another savvy move to potentially recoup some modicum of a return for his original minimal investment, DeCosta and the Ravens claimed Johnson off waivers from the Texans so that he could still count as one of their departing free agents, making him a part of the compensatory pick formula while not counting against the active roster until after the Super Bowl whether they made it or not. If Johnson signs elsewhere before the date that signing unrestricted free agents no longer impacts the formula, he’d either count towards the Ravens’ 2026 haul of comps picks or cancel out a signing of equal value they might want to make on the open market, another win-win.

The Ravens spent a seventh-round pick on Sanoussi Kane and signed a stud in undrafted free agency in Beau Brade who went on to make the team. Yet, they still felt like they needed a veteran safety presence in the secondary to help fill the void left by Geno Stone who departed in free agency to a division rival after leading the AFC in interceptions in 2023. The opportunity to bring in former two-time Pro Bowler and renowned ball hawk, Eddie Jackson, ahead of training camp was too good to pass up on a one-year deal worth just $1.5 million.

Sadly, the eight-year veteran failed to live up to the hype and not only didn’t display the incredible ball skills that made him a household name early in his career but he was a liability in coverage. DeCosta shared that the team’s decision to cut ties with him was more about them needing a roster spot for someone who could contribute but again admitted fault in a degree of naivete in thinking that someone who had started every game of his career with the Chicago Bears for six years would be okay with accepting a lesser albeit still very active role given how often the Ravens like to deploy multiple safeties to free up Kyle Hamilton to be utilized to the full extent of his dynamic playmaking abilities.

“He’s a veteran player, and sometimes when you add veteran players, as a [general manager], you’ve got to look at the player and figure out, ‘Is this player going to be happy in his role?’ This is a guy who, I think Eddie was a two-time Pro Bowl safety earlier in his career, and it really comes down to probably I failed,” DeCosta said. “This was a guy who didn’t really want to accept his role as a backup safety and a special teamer, and I understand that. I really do.

“It was a good value for us to get him the way we did, and I think sometimes, if I’m guilty of mistakes, it’s finding value but not always considering how that player is going to handle the situation that he’s being forced into. Eddie just wasn’t happy with his role; he wanted to play football. He got probably distracted at times. But I appreciate Eddie, he’s a great player, he’s been a great player in his career, he’s played well against us in the past. I think he’s got a lot of football left, and I wish him the best. I enjoyed being around him; it just didn’t work out for him as well as he wanted it to, and it probably didn’t work out as well for us as we wanted it to. But I think he can play football, and hopefully he has a good situation next year where he flourishes.”

Typically when a team has one or more disgruntled veteran players on a team, it can be detrimental to the fabric of the locker room but this year’s Ravens group was so tightknit that they stayed together and refused to unravel no matter what kind of adversity they faced internally or externally.

“That’s the thing that I really treasure about this team, because this was a football team that was singularly focused on one another, the team and being the best team that they could possibly be and doing the best they could do,” head coach John Harbaugh said Wednesday. “That doesn’t guarantee that every outcome is going to be the way you want it to be in every circumstance, and that’s why it’s so hard to go all the way.”