Maxx Crosby is far from the first player to ALMOST become a Baltimore athlete.
Many athletes have been acquired (or reportedly acquired) by the Orioles, Ravens and others only to never play a game for the team due to physicals, injuries, retirements or even more bizarre scenarios.
This list is chronological by time of the acquisition or reported acquisition. It does not include players originally drafted by the team who never made it. These were all acquired players. Here are The 15 “Almost Baltimore Athletes.”
1. Dan Issel
The future Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer was traded from the Kentucky Colonels to the new ABA Baltimore Claws before the 1975-76 season. The Memphis Sounds had been sold to a group of Maryland businessmen to establish the Claws, but then the Claws’ ownership group had financial problems so they were sold back to a different group in Memphis … only for that group to back out and the team to be given back to Baltimore. The Claws were supposed to trade Tom Owens and $500,000 for Issel but never posted the money. The Colonels sent Issel to the Nuggets instead. (The Claws played three preseason games but were expelled from the league before the season began.)
2. Brock Marion
The safety went from seventh-round pick in 1993 to a starter in 1995, finishing the latter season with 80 tackles and six interceptions. He was a key contributor to the Cowboys’ Super Bowl XXX title team. The Ravens announced a news conference to introduce Marion after signing him to a four-year deal during the offseason in 1997 but instead used that setting to announce they were backing out of the deal because a CT scan revealed a left scapula injury hadn’t fully healed. Marion played eight more seasons, reaching three Pro Bowls.
3. Aaron Sele
With Mike Mussina approaching a contract year in 2000, the Orioles made an aggressive move by signing Sele, who had finished fifth in AL Cy Young Award voting in 1999. But owner Peter Angelos didn’t like the “moderate wear and tear” he saw in Sele’s shoulder from his physical, so he attempted to restructure the deal. Sele backed out and signed with Seattle instead. He was an All-Star in 2000 and pitched eight more years.
4. Leon Searcy
The Ravens’ inability to defend their Super Bowl XXXV title is often tied to replacing Trent Dilfer with Elvis Grbac and a training camp injury to Jamal Lewis. But Searcy was a major signing in an effort to upgrade the offensive line and he … never played a game. A triceps injury not only cost him the season but the former All-Pro never played another game in the NFL.
5. Marcus D. Spears
“Glenn, Marcus Spears played for the Ravens in 2013! I know he did!” That’s former defensive end and current ESPN personality Marcus Rayshon Spears, who you also know as “Swagu.” This is former NFL offensive tackle Marcus DeWayne Spears, who agreed to a deal with the Ravens in May 2002, participated in a conference call with Baltimore reporters and then reneged on the agreement four days later before he had signed, choosing instead to re-sign in Kansas City.
6. Terrell Owens
Desperately seeking an offensive weapon, the Ravens sent their second-round pick to the 49ers in exchange for the mercurial receiver in March 2004. Then things got weird. Owens wanted to go to Philadelphia and thought he was going to be a free agent, but his agent had missed a deadline to void his deal. Owens said he didn’t like comments Ozzie Newsome had made to his agent, refused to take a physical with the Ravens and successfully forced the ordeal to arbitration. A settlement ultimately nullified the trade and netted the Ravens a fifth-round pick for their troubles. But Owens had 1,200 yards in 2004, while the Ravens’ top receiver (Travis Taylor) finished with 421.
7. Drew Bennett
Derrick Mason, Steve McNair, Samari Rolle, Derrick Henry and … Drew Bennett? The Ravens have a history of signing former Tennessee Titans and in July 2009, they added Bennett (who had played two years with the Rams in between) to their receiver group. But just two days later, Bennett announced he was instead retiring due to a knee issue. For what it’s worth, Bennett felt so bad about it that he reached out to a local radio station to ask if he could be a regular (unpaid) NFL contributor so he could do something for Baltimore fans.
8. Shayne Graham And Walt Harris
The Ravens went on a veteran spending spree in June 2010, signing former Pro Bowlers Ken Hamlin, Marc Bulger, Harris and accomplished veteran kicker Graham. Fans took this as a sign of how serious the Ravens were about getting back to the Super Bowl. But only Hamlin ever played a snap in Baltimore. Bulger doesn’t qualify for this list because he spent the whole season on the team. (Joe Flacco took every snap.) Harris was placed on IR in August and then cut. Graham was beat out for the kicking job by Billy Cundiff.
9. Justin Duchscherer
The Orioles signing Duchscherer ahead of the 2011 season was always a risk, given that he had made just five combined starts in 2009 and 2010 due to injury. The two-time All-Star never made a start, as a left hip strain kept him on what was then called the disabled list until he was released in August. He never pitched again in the bigs.
10. Tsuyoshi Wada And Suk-min Yoon
The Orioles often looked for non-traditional ways to add pitching during the Angelos era and … came up empty more than a few times. Wada had been a four-time All-Star and league MVP in Japan before signing for two years in December 2011, but Tommy John surgery cost him the 2012 season. When he finally got healthy in 2013, he never pitched above Norfolk. Yoon had been a three-time All-Star and MVP in Korea, so the Orioles gave him a three-year deal ahead of the 2014 season. He struggled in Norfolk that season and opted to return to Korea after one year.
11. Grant Balfour And Jeff Hoffman
Balfour’s situation was the first in a trend of players whose physicals prevented them from becoming Orioles. He agreed to a two-year deal in December 2013 but the deal fell apart within days. He instead joined the Rays and pitched for two more seasons. And a three-year, $40 million deal never came to fruition for Hoffman in Baltimore. A shoulder issue detected in his physical was flagged — reportedly by the Braves, too — and he ended up in Toronto instead. Hoffman was a reliable closer for the Blue Jays in 2025 but kissed away a World Series win by blowing a save in Game 7.
12. Johan Santana And Félix Hernández
Two-time Cy Young winner Santana missed all of 2013 with a shoulder tear (perhaps related to his 134-pitch no-hitter in 2012) and took a minor league deal from the Birds in 2014 to try to get back on track. However, he tore his Achilles in extended spring training and never got to Baltimore. Fellow former Cy Young winner Hernández tried to extend his career with the O’s in 2021 but suffered an elbow injury in spring training and opted out of his deal. Neither pitched again in the bigs.
13. Tyler Colvin, Dexter Fowler And Ángel Pagán
According to Jon Heyman, the Orioles backed out of a deal with Colvin before the 2014 season due to a back issue discovered in his physical. (The club tried to flip the deal from a major league deal to a minor league one.) The outfielder played just one more major league season with the Giants. Fowler was widely reported to have agreed to a three-year deal with Baltimore before the 2016 season. This time a physical wasn’t the issue. The parties just never actually finished negotiating. Two days later, Fowler re-signed with the Cubs. He had an All-Star season and helped the team end its 106-year World Series drought. Heyman also reported the Birds reached an agreement with Pagán ahead of the 2017 season but backed out due to something they saw in his physical. He never played again in the bigs.
14. Ryan Grant
The Ravens agreed to a four-year deal with the former Washington receiver in 2018 and backed out of it because of an ankle injury that caused him to fail his physical. But conspiracy theorists couldn’t help but wonder about the timing since the Raiders released Michael Crabtree after the Grant deal was agreed upon. The Ravens quickly pivoted to giving the former 10th overall pick a three-year deal. Grant went to the Colts instead. Both receivers lasted just one season in their new homes and both were out of the league entirely after 2019.
15. Michael Brockers
In an interview with PressBox after agreeing to a three-year deal with the Ravens in 2020, the veteran defensive lineman expressed how excited he was to pursue a Super Bowl with Lamar Jackson and the Ravens. He never got the chance, failing a physical and returning to the Rams and played three more seasons in the NFL.