Kyle Goon: Did Eric DeCosta make the right call on Maxx Crosby? There was a cost.

For every front office in the NFL, their bottom line mostly rests on the moves they made — not the moves they didn’t.

There are always rumors about the trades and contracts that died in war rooms, over secret phone calls that went nowhere. But it’s difficult to decide if a general manager should keep his job over a move that never materialized.

With his Ravens team in last place in the AFC North, bedeviled by old bad habits of choking up leads, general manager Eric DeCosta is feeling plenty of heat. Some of his highest-paid players haven’t performed to expectation, constant injuries along the offensive line have drawn a harsh spotlight to the group, and the team is staring down back-to-back games against AFC contenders Buffalo and Jacksonville.

As much as DeCosta is being judged by fans for what he’s done for this team, he is in the rare position to also be judged for one move he didn’t make: trading for Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby.

After games like this past Sunday, when the Ravens allowed a 35-0 Cincinnati run in the second half, I still wonder: What would Crosby have been like on this Ravens team?

As the Ravens defense has struggled for cohesion under coach Jesse Minter, I’ve thought a lot about the deal that Baltimore once announced with gusto back in March. It was the headliner ahead of free agency — a win-now move for a Ravens team looking for pass rushing prowess and swagger that Crosby could have provided in equal measure.

This blockbuster, however, was not to be. The Ravens reportedly balked at the medical evaluations of Crosby’s left knee, backing out of the deal four days after making it. They got to keep the two first-round picks they were to send to the Raiders — an admittedly steep, steep cost — and then, somewhat suspiciously, agreed to a deal with pass rusher Trey Hendrickson the next morning for a cheaper price in free agency.

I was clear at the time: I wasn’t a fan of how the Ravens backed out. Neither was much of the NFL. Teams typically are able to exchange medical reports before trades are executed, so it doesn’t really pass the smell test that the Ravens’ doctors could be so stunned by Crosby’s in-person evaluation that DeCosta would have had to nix the entire deal. While DeCosta vehemently denied it, the Ravens appeared to welch on the trade after realizing they could add Hendrickson and keep their picks.

I consider it bad business with a positive result for Baltimore. They added a comparable (albeit older) pass rusher in Hendrickson, and got to use their first-rounder on guard Vega Ioane, who has been a rookie success by any measure. Having both of those players instead of just Crosby (plus their 2028 first-rounder) is clearly a net gain for the personnel chart.

But there is a decent case that the Ravens should have made it anyway. They got to keep their picks, but they lost out on some things, too.

For one, Crosby has added more value than Hendrickson this season. He’s played 412 snaps to Hendrickson’s 192 — a pretty strong argument that perhaps the demise of his surgically repaired left meniscus was greatly exaggerated. Crosby’s pass rush win rate is 27% for ninth among edge rushers in the NFL — a little behind Hendrickson whose 30% is good for third — but he also is seventh in edge run stop percentage (30%), an area where Hendrickson is much more pedestrian. Pro Football Focus grades Crosby a good deal higher overall on defense (86.2, seventh among edges) than Hendrickson (66.6, 49th).

Even more importantly, think of how Crosby might have influenced the Ravens’ locker room. It was clear before this season that the leadership on defense was underwhelming. When I was campaigning for the Ravens to trade for Crosby in March, I wrote then:

Crosby is a dog who never needs to be goaded into playing harder, only let off the leash. A Ravens defense that struggled through injuries last season never quite seemed to possess the relentless energy of the best NFL units.

Hendrickson, meanwhile, has a reputation for being aloof. After the loss to Cincinnati, his former team, Hendrickson was clearly steamed, but also had an odd answer when asked what the Ravens were saying to each other on the sideline as the game unraveled: “Nobody should be having these side conversations on the sidelines, if there is any.”

Hendrickson is an introvert, someone who retreats within himself during games to focus on his job, which seems to work for him as an individual. Contrast that with Crosby, an extroverted and maniacally competitive teammate who lets the world know how he feels about losing, like after the Raiders just dropped their fourth straight game:

“Trust me, it f---ing makes me want to throw up,” he said. “Playing my a-- off. I know the guys are playing their a-- off. It’s just not good enough right now. And four losses in a row, it’s f---ing tough, bro. And we got to respond.”

On the defensive side of the ball, the Ravens need more of what Crosby has: toughness and unabashed accountability. Crosby is miscast on a Las Vegas team bereft of surrounding talent, which is why he wanted to be traded in the first place.

I understand why DeCosta ultimately didn’t execute the deal — it may even have been the right thing to do for the franchise’s future — but the marriage would have been a good one, especially in light of sentiments like Minter’s this Monday as he searched for a hero.

“There’s also moments in the game where it’s like, ‘Who’s the guy that’s going to grab everybody together [and] get them together on the sideline?” Minter said. “I think as a team, we’re working through who that is. Who is that person?”

It will never be Hendrickson, who doesn’t even want to talk on the sideline.

It’s the ideal role for Crosby, the best could-have-been Raven that DeCosta nearly had.

There is time for Hendrickson to prove that he was worth the $112 million investment Baltimore made in him, and he certainly has been soldiering on with his fingers in a brace. Every game Ioane plays well also strengthens the argument that DeCosta made the right call.

But even the trades that break down at the goal line have a cost. And unlike most hypotheticals that never see the light of day, this is one that can be counted in DeCosta’s ledger — for better and for worse.