FSU Alums: NFL team says they wanted to draft Derwin James earlier

Former FSU star safety Derwin James is now a member of the Los Angeles Chargers – but one teams says they had planned to take him earlier.

For many FSU football fans, the shock was there for much of the first round of the NFL Draft last month when Derwin James, who was considered by many to be one of the best athletes in the entire group, fell all the way to the bottom half of the opening round when he was taken No. 17 overall by the Los Angeles Chargers.

While it is a good spot for James and he should be able to shine rather quickly with the Chargers, many were wondering why some teams didn’t take him earlier (looking at you, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Miami Dolphins, who went with other defensive players several picks before James was selected).

As it turns out, one team is willing to admit that they were going to take James and changed their mind before pulling the trigger to select the former FSU All-American star.

NFL.com published a story detailing how the Baltimore Ravens, who had the No. 16 pick before trading down for more picks in the draft, were all set to make James look good in purple for the start of his career.

"When the organization’s top decision-makers met at owner Steve Bisciotti’s Jupiter, Fla. home after the season, (assistant general manager Eric) DeCosta explained, they discussed the importance of adding playmakers on offense.“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 and Chargers don’t play each other until Week 16 of the season, so we won’t know until December whether this was a bad miss of a former FSU star for the two time Super Bowl champs. As for Los Angeles, sometimes you are in the right place at the right time and that was the case with them being able to snatch up Derwin James.

Next: Derwin James not among top players for Defensive Rookie of Year?

Okay, that was the diplomatic side – now for my side as a Ravens fan: WHAT?!?!?! WE COULD HAVE HAD DERWIN JAMES?!?!?! WE’RE ONE OF JUST A FEW TEAMS THAT DON’T HAVE A FSU PLAYER ON THE ROSTER AND I COULD HAVE HAD AN INSTANT STAR?!?!?! COME ON!!!