Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh wanted the team to cut Ray Rice in February when video surfaced that showed the running back dragging his unconscious wife out of an elevator in Atlantic City, N.J., ESPN reported Friday.

Rice wasn’t released by the Ravens until the full video of the incident obtained by TMZ showed Rice knocking out his wife with a punch in the elevator and then dragging her out the door at the hotel-casino.

Numerous sources told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” that Harbaugh was shocked by what he saw and heard back in February and expressed his desire to have Rice removed from the team at that time. But owner Steve Bischiotti, president Dick Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome resisted.

According to the ESPN report, team executives knew everything that happened with Rice in February and Cass apparently received a full report from Rice’s lawyer in April.

The Ravens denied Friday that Harbaugh sought to have Rice removed from the roster in February.

“The ESPN.com ‘Outside the Lines’ article contains numerous errors, inaccuracies, false assumptions and, perhaps, misunderstandings,” the team said Friday night in a statement. “The Ravens will address all of these next week in Baltimore after our trip to Cleveland for Sunday’s game against the Browns.”

ESPN also reported that Harbaugh in March wanted to get rid of Rice and two other Ravens players involved in off-the-field incidents — offensive lineman Jah Reid and wide receiver Deonte Thompson — but again was overruled. Reid was arrested and charged with two counts of battery and Thompson had been arrested.

According to “Outside the Lines,” Newsome believed the Ravens could weather the storm as they had done when former linebacker Ray Lewis and running back Jamal Lewis faced legal issues in the early 2000s.