There was a staff which may have had ulterior motives when it used Maxx Crosby’s knee as a approach to assist its scenario in the NFL Draft.
“After deliberate and thorough session with a number of high medical professionals,” the staff stated, “it became clear that this decision is in the best interest of both the franchise and the player.”
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Was that the Baltimore Ravens this week when it nixed a Crosby trade and held onto two first-round picks? No. That can be the Las Vegas Raiders again in December, explaining that they put Crosby on injured reserve for the “best interest” of the participant who reportedly was offended he was being shut down with two video games left. In that assertion, they occurred to go away out that the recreation after shutting down Crosby and tight finish Brock Bowers was in opposition to the New York Giants and would possible decide who would decide first in the 2026 NFL Draft. Everyone knew what the Raiders have been doing. And the tanking labored. The Raiders misplaced to the Giants to get the high decide and the proper to draft Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza in April.
The NFL could be a messy enterprise, as many aggressive conditions are. The Ravens backed out of a trade Tuesday evening, with a number of media experiences saying the staff wasn’t comfy with the situation of Crosby’s knee after performing a bodily. That’s the similar knee the Raiders cited once they put Crosby on IR final December, by the approach.
Maxx Crosby isn’t going to the Ravens after all. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
(Mitchell Leff by way of Getty Images)
The Ravens will come out of this being the villain, particularly after signing Trey Hendrickson less than 24 hours after nixing the Crosby trade. It all seems to be underhanded, like Baltimore understood it may get a comparable move rusher with out giving two first-round draft picks to Las Vegas and determined that Crosby’s knee apprehensive the Ravens and known as off the commerce. It’s positive to hate the Ravens, a minimum of till the mob finds one thing else to be offended about.
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But don’t forget that the Raiders had comparable shenanigans simply three months in the past, and with the precise damage the Ravens cited this week. Again, the NFL could be a messy enterprise. And it’s not only one staff.
Here are the winners and losers from one among the greatest NFL controversies in current reminiscence:
WINNERS
Raiders, probably: The Raiders get to play the sufferer this week, and in addition they acquired a possible Hall of Fame participant again to an improved roster.
We’ll see how the Raiders play it, and they didn’t need the commerce being nixed (or they wouldn’t have made the deal in the first place) however the staff’s scenario modified over the first two days of free company. The Raiders signed middle Tyler Linderbaum, defensive lineman Kwity Paye, receiver Jalen Nailor, and linebackers Quay Walker and Nakobe Dean, and retained cornerback Eric Stokes and defensive finish Malcolm Koonce. The roster seems to be significantly better than it did on Monday morning.
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A whole lot of these strikes are designed to be extra aggressive now. Crosby would clearly assist that. The Raiders stated they didn’t really want to trade Crosby and that was probably genuine. He’s a fantastic player. It made sense to trade Crosby for what the Raiders got for him, but there’s also nothing wrong with holding onto a hugely popular player who helps Las Vegas get better now.
We’ll see what the Raiders do. But getting one of the NFL’s best defensive players back isn’t exactly the end of the world.
Trey Hendrickson: The one party that comes out of this controversy without much blood on its hands might be Hendrickson.
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He’s a fantastic player who had 17.5 sacks in 2023 and 2024 again, was the top free agent on the market. He’ll be 32 in December, which kept his price down a bit. But he still got a four-year, $112 million deal from a team that should be a Super Bowl contender. That’s the type of deal he wanted but couldn’t get from the Cincinnati Bengals, though maybe a little less than he wanted.
Whatever happened behind the scenes with the Ravens and their decision on Crosby, it’s not Hendrickson’s fault. He ends up in a pretty good spot.
Ravens: Remove the rage for a moment. Which package is better:
Package A: Maxx Crosby minus two first-round draft picks
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Package B: Trey Hendrickson and two first-round draft picks
It’s fine to pick A, because Crosby is a better player than Hendrickson. But, likely, most people would pick B. And, even though it might have come about in a shady way, that’s what the Ravens ended up with.
OK, continue your rage.
LOSERS
Roger Goodell: By Wednesday morning, the mob on social media was out for blood. The Ravens needed to be punished. If there was an NCAA-style loss of life penalty for NFL groups, some followers wished it enacted.
And whereas the NFL will possible look into what occurred, there’s not a lot it may well do. Trades get known as off resulting from physicals. It’s uncommon, nevertheless it occurs. The NFL can’t legislate a staff’s threat tolerance relating to an enormous funding and what it sees throughout a bodily on a participant coming off meniscus surgical procedure, as Crosby was, or another damage.
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If Goodell and the NFL punish the Ravens, it units a nasty precedent. If the league does nothing, everybody will proceed to be offended. It’s a no-win scenario.
The “legal tampering” interval: Any publicity is nice publicity, they are saying, and the Crosby scenario has generated loads of that. But it additionally factors out flaws in the system.
The NFL began the so-called authorized tampering interval as a result of everybody knew it was happening anyway, so it was a approach to drop the charade. And principally it has labored. But right here’s the flaw: Nothing can develop into official till Wednesday when the league yr begins. Those huge offers which might be reported all over the place could be backed out of earlier than they’re official. And the remainder of the league has time to evaluate the market.
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It hasn’t become chaos but. NFL groups act like they’re aggressive however hardly ever step throughout one another relating to restricted free brokers or tagged gamers, for instance. And the Crosby fiasco had a particular set of circumstances that received’t be the norm. But we will see the approach through which the present system could possibly be an issue.
Raiders GM John Spytek: While it’s true the Raiders are higher off proper now with Crosby, if he sticks round, what does that actually imply? They’re in all probability nonetheless the worst staff on paper in the AFC West for the 2026 season.
There’s a cause the Crosby deal made sense for the Raiders. They’re in a rebuild, and an additional two first-round picks was a great way to construct a basis. While it was going to harm to surrender Crosby, he’s 29 years previous. The Raiders have to be considering just a few years down the highway, once they hope Mendoza has become a very good beginning quarterback and a few of their different items have developed round him.
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The Raiders may nonetheless take a look at a deal, however they took the finest provide potential from the Ravens. They can be taking the second-best deal from anybody else. Or they don’t commerce Crosby and lose out on two first-round picks in what was a optimistic commerce for a rebuilding staff. The commerce falling by way of definitely led to an surprising problem and shift in Spytek’s long-term plan.