One team may have ulterior motives in using Max Crosby’s knee to help their situation in the NFL Draft.
“After thoughtful and thorough consultation with multiple top medical professionals, it is clear that this decision is in the best interest of the team and players,” the team said.
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Is this what happens when the Baltimore Ravens cancel the Crosby trade this week and keep two first-round picks? No. That was last December when the Las Vegas Raiders explained they were placing Crosby on injured reserve in the “best interests” of their players, who were reportedly angry about being suspended with two games remaining. They happened to fail to mention the game against the New York Giants after shutting down Crosby and tight end Brock Bowles, a game that will likely determine who gets the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. Everyone knows what the Raiders are doing. Tanking worked; the Raiders lost to the Giants in April for the No. 1 pick and the rights to draft Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
Like many competitive situations, the NFL can be a chaotic industry. The Ravens backed out of the trade on Tuesday night, with multiple reports saying the team was not satisfied with the condition of Crosby’s knee after conducting a physical. Incidentally, this is the same knee that was cited when the Raiders placed Crosby on IR last December.
Max Crosby isn’t going to the Ravens after all. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
(Mitchell Leff via Getty Images)
The Ravens will be off the hook after signing Trey Hendrickson less than 24 hours after canceling the Crosby trade. It all seems despicable, like Baltimore knew they could get a similar pass rusher without giving the Raiders two first-round picks and decided Crosby’s knee worried them and canceled the trade. It’s good to hate the Ravens, at least until the mob finds something else to be angry about.
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But don’t forget that just three months ago, the Raiders had some similar shenanigans, and the Ravens suffered the same injury this week. The NFL can be chaotic at times. And it’s not just one team.
Here are the winners and losers from one of the NFL’s biggest controversies in recent memory:
Winner
Strategy, maybe: The Raiders will play the victim this week, and they also have a potential Hall of Famer back on an improved roster.
We’ll see how the Raiders play out, they don’t want the deal to be canceled (otherwise they wouldn’t have made it in the first place), but the team’s situation has changed in the first two days of free agency. They signed center Tyler Linderbaum, defensive lineman Kwity Paye, receiver Jalen Nailor and linebackers Quay Walker and Nakobe Dean, and retained cornerback Eric Stokes and defensive end Malcolm Koonce. The roster looks much better than it did Monday morning.
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Now, many initiatives are aimed at becoming more competitive. Crosby will obviously help with that. The Raiders have said they don’t really want to trade Crosby, which may be true. He’s a great player. It makes sense to trade Crosby for what the Raiders got, but there’s nothing wrong with keeping a very popular player who helped make Las Vegas better.
We’ll see what the Raiders do. But having one of the NFL’s best defensive players back isn’t exactly the end of the world.
Trey Hendrickson: Hendrickson may be the one party to this controversy who doesn’t have too much blood on his hands.
Hendrickson is a great player with 17.5 sacks in 2023 and again in 2024 and is the best free agent on the market. He was 31 years old at the time, which makes his net worth slightly lower. But he still got a four-year, $112 million contract from a team that was supposed to be a Super Bowl contender. That’s the type of deal he wanted but couldn’t get from the Cincinnati Bengals, although it might have been a little less than what he wanted.
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Regardless of what happened behind the scenes with the Ravens and their decision on Crosby, it wasn’t Hendrickson’s fault. He ended up in a really good spot.
crow: Take away your anger temporarily. Which package is better:
Package A: Maxx Crosby
Package B: Trey Hendrickson and two first-round picks
Picking A is okay because Crosby is a better player than Hendrickson. However, it is likely that most people will choose B. And, while it may have happened in an underhanded way, that’s the end result for the Ravens.
Well, continue with your rage.
loser
Roger Goodell: By Wednesday morning, the social media mob was already seeking blood. The Ravens have to be punished. If the death penalty were to be imposed on NFL teams, some fans would want it enacted.
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While the NFL may investigate what happened, there’s not much it can do. The deal was canceled due to medical examination. This is rare, but it does happen. The NFL can’t legislate a team’s risk tolerance when it comes to huge investments and what’s seen in physical exams of players after meniscus surgery (like Crosby) or any other injury.
It would set a bad precedent if Goodell and the NFL punished the Ravens. If the league doesn’t take any action, everyone will continue to be angry. It’s a win-win situation.
During “Legal Tampering”: They say any publicity is good publicity, and Crosby’s situation has generated plenty of it. But it also points to flaws in the system.
The NFL started what’s called a legal tampering period because everyone knew it was going to happen anyway, so it was a way to give up on the mystery. For the most part it has worked. But here’s the catch: Nothing can be officially confirmed until the league year starts on Wednesday. Those ubiquitous large-scale deals can be exited before they become official. The rest of the league has had time to evaluate the market.
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Things haven’t turned into chaos yet. For example, NFL teams act as if they are competitive but rarely compete with each other when it comes to restricted free agents or tag players. The Crosby debacle had a specific set of circumstances that won’t become the norm. But we can see possible problems with the current system.
Raiders general manager John Spectek: While it’s true that the Raiders are better now with Crosby at the helm, what does that really mean if he stays? They may still be the worst team in the AFC West on paper heading into the 2026 season.
There’s a reason why a Crosby trade makes sense for the Raiders. They are rebuilding, and two additional first-round picks are a great way to build a foundation. While it will be painful to give up on Crosby, he is 29 years old. The Raiders need to think about the next few years, and they hope Mendoza has become a quality starting quarterback and some of their other pieces have developed around him.
The Raiders could still consider a trade, but they got the best offer from the Ravens. They’ll get the second best deal from someone else. Or they don’t trade Crosby and lose two first-round picks, which would be a positive move for a rebuilding team. The failure of this transaction undoubtedly brought unexpected challenges and changes to Spytek’s long-term plans.
