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Maxx Crosby Trade Falls Apart (and the Fallout Begins)
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- Maxx Crosby Trade Falls Apart (and the Fallout Begins)
The blockbuster trade between the Las Vegas Raiders and Baltimore Ravens for star pass rusher Maxx Crosby is officially off.
After coming to an agreement that would send multiple first-round draft picks to the Raiders in return for Crosby, the Ravens have backed out of the deal just hours before it was set to become official.
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The Raiders put out a short and not-so-sweet statement announcing the trade was off, making it clear that it was Baltimore's idea to pull the plug:
Multiple reports are indicating that Crosby failed his physical with the Ravens, likely stemming from offseason surgery related to the knee injury that landed him on injured reserve for the final few games of the 2025 season:
That sure makes it sound like Baltimore blames Vegas for this whole fiasco.
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Regardless of who deserves the lion's share of the blame, the fallout from this development will be strong and swift, reaching far beyond just these two franchises.
On the Ravens side, they're now left without the star pass rusher they thought they were getting, and many of the top names on the market have already agreed to terms with other teams. One potential option who remains (unofficially) untethered is Trey Hendrickson , who could immediately become Baltimore's backup plan.
The Raiders have much bigger problems.
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Speaking of those agreements, Vegas made quite a few of them on the first day of the league's free-agent negotiating period, committing upwards of $281 million in new contracts:
The Raiders entered all of those agreements with the expectations that Crosby, along with his $35 million cap hit for 2026, would be off their books following the trade with Baltimore. Instead, they could be left with the possibility of reneging on one of their own agreements because the Ravens backed out of this one.
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If they want to avoid that, the Raiders would obviously have to find a new trade partner for Crosby. That's likely to be much more difficult this time around, considering that many of the most sensible candidates have already filled their need for a pass rusher by agreeing to terms with a free agent. Once this trade had been put in place, those teams were looking elsewhere to find help with Crosby off the market.
And even if the Raiders do find a willing partner, with a medical staff that would sign off on Crosby's acquisition, there's no way that team will give them the same level of compensation they were set to receive from the Ravens. Given the medical concerns, as well as the lack of leverage due to the other factors at play, Vegas would have to take a significant discount from the multiple first-round picks in order to get Crosby back off their books.
It doesn't sound like this is sitting well with the rest of the league, either:
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Who knows exactly how and where all of this dust will settle, but for the moment, Crosby is still a Raider. There are teams who are likely to jump at the second chance to land him, especially at a discount.
But this will be just one more lesson that until the ink is dry, anything can change.
This story was originally published by Athlon Sports on Mar 11, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
