The Las Vegas Raiders and Baltimore Ravens had a deal in place for Maxx Crosby, and the Raiders were well on their way to getting two first-round picks back in the deal, which actually would have been a flat-out awesome haul.
For a while there, it felt like the Raiders were going to be building toward something special, as two first-round picks are insanely valuable and could have been used to draft blue-chip talent. All of a sudden, though, the Ravens backed out of the deal in shocking fashion, and if you ask Baltimore, they pulled out of the deal due to Crosby's knee, and their masking this as a failed physical.
Essentially, the Ravens didn't want to risk giving up a ton of capital for Crosby and taking the chance on his knee recovering. However, a recent report seems to pour cold water on that for the Ravens, and it really seems like Baltimore is at fault here.
The Las Vegas Raiders might not be the 'bad guys' in this Maxx Crosby fiasco...
A recent report on Wednesday morning from Dianna Russini is really just a massive embarrassment for the Ravens in all honesty:
It’s been made clear by multiple people around the NFL at all levels that Baltimore had all the information and understood where Maxx Crosby’s knee was in terms of his recovery timeline.
— Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) March 11, 2026
Many in the league believe GM Eric DeCosta and the Ravens ultimately just got cold feet.
This is the most likely scenario that played out here. Since the trade was obviously not official in any capacity, and more-so just a 'handshake agreement,' nothing was stopping either team from totally backing out of the deal, but given that the two sides clearly wanted this to go through, virtually no one would have seen this fallout coming.
If it's indeed true that Ravens General Manager Eric DeCosta did get cold feet, it's a huge red flag and could hurt the Ravens in future negotiations. As for the Raiders, they actually might benefit from this, as a Crosby trade is absolutely something that could still happen, and there really isn't anything to indicate that the team wouldn't still get two first-round picks back in the deal.
Crosby is a modern-day NFL ironman, having missed just seven games in his seven years in the NFL. He's constantly all over the field making big-time plays, so there is going to be one or more teams that express interest in making this trade.
Conveniently, the Ravens almost immediately pivoted to Trey Hendrickson, agreeing to terms on a deal on Wednesday morning. When you put all of these pieces together, it is abundantly clear that the Ravens chickened out of this deal.