Raiders Prepared To Keep Maxx Crosby; Team To Honor Free Agency Agreements

10:36pm: It appears that Crosby, too, is prepared to return to how things were. In a late night post on X, Crosby delivered a message with multiple short declarations, the most pertinent of which read, “Im [sic] A Raider. I’m Back.”

While trade talks will almost certainly resume as teams that lost out on Crosby the first time around try to haggle down to a new price, Crosby appears to be accepting the reality of his new situation. There surely will be more said on the matter before this is all said and done, but at this point, both Crosby and Vegas have declared that they are comfortable with a reunion after what was a much shorter-than-expected separation.

9:17pm: In the aftermath of one of the wildest transaction developments in recent NFL memory, several rumors, questions, and accusations surrounded the football teams in Baltimore and Las Vegas. Now that the dust has settled, let’s start with some of the things that are relatively clear following the cancelation of the Ravens’ trade for Raiders’ star defensive end Maxx Crosby.

According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, the Raiders’ team brass “reached out to (Crosby) immediately after the trade died yesterday.” The night of the ordeal, ESPN’s Adam Schefter relayed that Las Vegas was “prepared to get Crosby healthy and have him play,” adding that “several” teams had called to inquire about his availability in another trade and that the Raiders were listening. Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, though, noted that the unfortunate timing of the ordeal “drastically limits the possibility of a trade,” partially because the teams that are calling Vegas now are “looking for a good deal.”

That timing will likely slow things down a bit. Per Breer, Crosby was back in the Raiders’ building at 6am this morning, coming in early to continue rehabbing the knee injury that seemingly caused all this drama. Two months removed from his full meniscus repair, Crosby’s focus has shifted to his “rehab and getting back,” according to Rapoport, “ready to play football for the Raiders, ready to move forward.” The Athletic’s Dianna Russini chimed in, as well, contributing that while the Raiders may still choose to trade Crosby if the right situation arises, his return has created a possible reality in which he could be “playing for the Raiders this upcoming season.”

Throughout what has surely been an emotional rollercoaster, Crosby has been nothing but professional. Though sources close to the 28-year-old five-time Pro Bowler have reported that he is “hot” and “angry as all can be that this played out the way that it did,” per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network, Crosby hasn’t express any of this anger publicly, allowing his old/new team and representation to speak for him. To that effect, Crosby’s agent, CJ LaBoy, released the following statement:

Maxx continues to be on track in his recovery and, if anything, is ahead of schedule, according to his surgeon, Dr. Neal El Attrache [sic]. Maxx remains on track to return during the offseason program and will undoubtedly return as the dominant game wrecker he has been these past seven seasons.

As for the Ravens, an early explanation came in the afternoon from Russini. In an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, she laid out how the Ravens, like every team that had inquired about trading for Crosby, were aware of the veteran pass rusher’s knee injury and exact timeline for rehab based on the information from the Raiders and the surgeon that performed Crosby’s meniscus repair. She reported that, as Crosby arrived in Baltimore for his physical, “things just seemed really off in the building all day.” Following the physical, the Ravens reexamined the MRI scan results on Crosby’s knee and then had “four or five independent doctors” do the same, using that collective input to come to their ultimate decision to call off the trade.

According to NFL Network’s Jane Slater, another NFL team’s general manager had posited that, because Crosby was never going to pass a physical two months removed from surgery, “something else had to lead” to Baltimore’s reluctance. That GM suggested that, perhaps, Crosby could have been “too far behind in rehab,” or maybe the team didn’t “like the images of recovery.”

Essentially, Russini’s report concluded that what the team believes they discovered upon reexamination of his knee convinced them that the trade was no longer “worth” giving up two first-round picks. In her understanding, the Ravens’ view was that Crosby would likely be fine for the 2026 NFL season, in the short term. Their hold up came from their projections for his long-term availability, which were enough to convince them to sit Crosby down and explain that they would not be moving forward with the trade agreement, leading to a strong likelihood that Crosby remains a Raider this year and, perhaps, beyond.

Russini’s opinion on the matter was a popular one in media, one that spelled out a nefarious picture of the Ravens. She told Patrick that there was “100 percent shadiness going on” in the way things played out in Baltimore. In her eyes, the stalling market of former Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson — now a member of the Ravens, via free agency — and the mass exodus of key contributors from Baltimore in free agency combined to show the Ravens an alternative route out of the hole they had put themselves in by dedicating significant cap space to Crosby and limiting their ability to re-sign pending free agents. While only the Ravens will ever know their true intentions, it’s at least fair two say both things can be true, that medical concerns and greater surrounding context could both have influenced the team’s final decision.

Regardless, Crosby’s future now lies back in the hands of the team that drafted him out of Eastern Michigan almost seven years ago. As mentioned above, the Raiders appear willing to listen to the market of teams that will make offers for the 28-year-old star, but Russini warns that they shouldn’t “expect teams to be lining up immediately to get back into” trade talks for Crosby. There’s a general feeling that the price for Crosby will have dropped following the way everything played out, and no team seems eager to set the market. In fact, Russini reports that some teams “expect the Raiders to be the ones calling them.”

The Cowboys, who seemingly had placed second in the initial Crosby sweepstakes, appear to have already bowed out of Round 2. At the time the Raiders had been seeking two first-round picks a week ago, Dallas had reportedly been working on a deal to package defensive tackle Osa Odighizuwa with some draft capital in an offer to trade for Crosby, per NFL insider Jordan Schultz. Instead, Odighizuwa will make his way to the Raiders’ old Bay Area, cross-conference rivals in San Francisco.

The rest of the fallout from the events of the past several days remains to be seen, but for now, the Raiders intend to honor all of the non-binding free agent deals they agreed to when they believed Crosby would no longer be on their books, per Breer. With Crosby back in the fold, the purse strings are certainly going to be a bit tighter, but Las Vegas entered the offseason with the most cap space in the NFL, and though they weren’t expecting it, they can shoulder Crosby’s cap burden for the time.

As Crosby restarts his rehab with his old team again, though, he may have to rebuild some bridges that were burned on his way out of Vegas. According to an old report from Michael Silver of The Athletic, Crosby had become frustrated by the presence of minority owner Tom Brady‘s longtime business partner, wellness coordinator Alex Guerrero. Now that he’s back in the building, and it appears that he could be staying, Crosby may have to make nice with someone who “purports to possess significant organizational power” and “is perceived to have a direct pipeline to Brady.” After a disheartening roundtrip to Baltimore, Crosby will have to make peace with the devil he knows.