In what could be the biggest move of the NFL offseason − five days before the official start of free agency − the Las Vegas Raiders agreed to trade perennial Pro Bowl pass rusher Maxx Crosby on March 6 to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for two first-round draft picks, one in 2026 and the other in ’27, per multiple reports.
The move should immediately restore the Ravens as front-runners in the AFC North and also bona fide Super Bowl contenders after they missed the playoffs in 2025, despite a loaded roster, and fired longtime coach John Harbaugh in the aftermath. As for the Raiders, Crosby’s departure signals their embrace of a needed rebuild − something the franchise wasn’t willing to do a year ago when it hired Pete Carroll in a bid to compete in a loaded AFC West in what was a failed one-season stint for the legendary head coach. Now, the team seems focused on collecting assets in order to forge a supporting cast around its presumed No. 1 draft pick, Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
How did each club make out? Let’s grade the trade:
Baltimore Ravens’ Maxx Crosby trade grade: A
This is a team that should be in the discussion to win the Lombardi Trophy annually − and usually is. But an organization historically known for suffocating defense lapsed to 24th in 2025, in part due to an injured and ineffective front. Baltimore’s 30 sacks were tied for third-fewest in the league.
But now the Ravens are adding one of the league’s premier pressure players at a time when newly hired head coach Jesse Minter − whose specialty is defense − can deploy Crosby, whom he knows well from their time in the AFC West together. (Minter was most recently the Los Angeles Chargers’ defensive coordinator.) And while Baltimore is paying handsomely, Crosby is under contract through the 2029 season − though doesn’t have any guarantees after the 2026 campaign, effectively making his deal pay-as-you-go at present. His three-year, $106.5 million extension, signed last year, doesn’t even take effect until the 2027 season.
A Pro Bowler each of the past five seasons, Crosby has been beaten up in the last two, missing seven of a possible 34 starts over that stretch. But his production hasn’t suffered much in a span when he’s registered 17½ sacks and 99 QB pressures, per Next Gen Stats. In each of his three full seasons from 2021 to ’23, Crosby never had fewer than 79 pressures or eight sacks in an individual season. Baltimore didn’t have a player with more than five sacks in 2025, and the continued doubt swirling around the future of injured DL Nnamdi Madubuike also surely influenced GM Eric DeCosta’s thinking.
Bottom line, this should be good news for the Ravens, who should be operating from a win-now perspective for the remainder of two-time MVP QB Lamar Jackson’s tenure, and bad news for Patrick Mahomes, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow and the remainder of the AFC. It should also be a sterling opportunity for Crosby − if not a Silver-and-Black one − to legitimately pursue the excellence and ring he’s futilely sought for years in the desert after enjoying just one postseason appearance to date in his first seven NFL seasons.
Las Vegas Raiders’ Maxx Crosby trade grade: A
Crosby has long been a good, loyal soldier to the wayward operation that gave him a chance as a fourth-round pick out of Eastern Michigan in 2019 and stuck by him through substance abuse problems. But it was time for a fresh start for the 28-year-old, who bristled at being shut down by the team late last season, and also the Raiders, who need to quickly build an infrastructure around Mendoza that will help him succeed with a roster in need of many parts and in a division where Las Vegas is clearly fourth of four. Aside from Crosby, the team didn’t appear to have any foundational pieces last season aside from TE Brock Bowers and RB Ashton Jeanty − and neither plays what’s considered a premium NFL position.
As bleak as the Raiders look defensively sans Crosby, they’re nearly as deficient in the receiving corps − no player had as many as 65 catches or 700 yards in 2025 − and, as presently constructed, would have quite a difficult time safeguarding Mendoza.
Obtaining a first-rounder in 2027, which is expected to be one of the most loaded drafts in years, could be the real coup for GM John Spytek and minority owner Tom Brady as they look to restore the Raiders to glory more than 40 years after their most recent Super Bowl triumph. But, sometimes, it seems a Commitment to Excellence can mean a win-win transaction for all parties involved.
