Ravens insist they did their ‘due diligence’ on the allegations against their 2nd-round draft pick

OWINGS MILLS Md AP Whichever club drafted Marshall linebacker Mike Green was going to face questions about his off-field history That turned out to be the Baltimore Ravens who were already under scrutiny because of the assertions against star kicker Justin Tucker The Ravens drafted Green late in the second round The standout edge rusher had sacks last season at Marshall It was his second season there after two at Virginia and he commented at the NFL scouting combine that he transferred after being accused of sexual assault for a second time We understand the severity of what these charges were of unit Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta reported Friday night But doing our due diligence we are calm with Mike Green stated reporters at the combine that he also was accused of sexual assault in high school He noted he was never charged and insisted he did nothing wrong He was considered a realizable first-round pick but ended up going to Baltimore at No overall We got as much information as we could we considered the facts we considered the assertions DeCosta explained We considered what the reports authentically were and what they indeed weren t and we made the decision based off of that Neither of the Ravens two draft picks Friday were available to the media but much of the news conference with DeCosta and coach John Harbaugh was spent on off-field concerns about Green The coaches and administrators and teammates at Marshall were fully supportive of everything he had done there Harbaugh announced And same at U-Va Wasn t any different at U-Va It was exactly the same Coming into the draft one of the questions surrounding the Ravens was whether they d take a kicker as a prospective replacement for Tucker The veteran kicker s status is uncertain after the Baltimore Banner communicated that over a dozen massage therapists have accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior The NFL has disclosed it would investigate Going further back the Ravens reputation took a hit over a decade ago because of their handling of the Ray Rice affair The group published Rice only after a video surfaced of him punching his then-fiancee in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino That outrage led Steve Bisciotti to call his worst year as the squad s owner Time will tell what kind of contestant and citizen Green will be in the pros The Ravens insist they ve been careful It is a hard decision DeCosta disclosed It s a hard decision when a guy runs a slow it s a intricate decision when a guy has assertions it s a demanding decision when a guy has an injury that maybe he can t overcome That all kind of gets factored in because in the end there is an element of jeopardy mitigation AP NFL https apnews com hub nfl Source