How Ravens robbed Green Bay Packers of Ray Lewis at last minute in 1996 NFL Draft

Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis is one of the greatest to ever play the position. He is a First ballot Hall of Famer who won one Super Bowl with the Ravens. According to Eliot Wolf on a recent episode of The Adam Schefter Podcast, Ray Lewis was almost a member of the Green Bay Packers.

During the 1996 draft, the Packers had Ray Lewis on the phone and were ready to pick him at 27th overall. However, moments before they could, the Ravens selected Lewis pick 26. Patriots de facto GM Eliot Wolf was in the Packers war room that day and remembers it well.

“John Michaels was one, tackle from USC, that one didn’t work out. That’s actually an interesting story because they were getting ready to draft Ray Lewis,” Wolf said. “Baltimore picked him right before, you know the pick before, and [the Packers] ended up picking John Michaels.”

Wolf went on to describe what he remembered about the situation in the Packers war room.

“There was some disappointment,” Wolf recalled, “because they actually had Ray on the phone, they were talking to Ray, and Baltimore was still on the clock. They thought Ray was one of the best players in the draft.”

Wolf also shed some light on why Ray Lewis slid to the bottom of the first round in the first place.

“That’s easy to say now, he’s one of the best linebackers of all time. First ballot Hall of Famer and all that. But he was seen as kind of an undersized middle linebacker back in the day.”

Ray Lewis finished his career with 2.050 total tackles, 41.5 sacks, 19 forced fumbles and fumble recoveries, and 31 interceptions.

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