The Raiders wanted two first-round picks and a player for defensive end Maxx Crosby. They ultimately settled for a pair of first-round picks from the Ravens.
The Cowboys apparently tried to land Crosby with a reduced offer of their own.
Via Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, Dallas was willing to send a first-round pick in 2026 (12th overall), a future second-round pick, and a veteran player to Las Vegas.
The notion that the Cowboys tried to make a big swing for a pass rusher contradicts the “stop the run” excuse-making from owner/G.M. Jerry Jones, after he cried “uncle” at the end of the multi-month standoff with Micah Parsons. But Jones surely was intrigued by the possibility of getting Crosby’s remaining four contract years, at an average payout of $29 million per year. (And Jones undoubtedly believed he could talk Crosby into not expecting an adjustment to a deal that has been leapfrogged by other players — and by $10 million per year after Parsons signed with the Packers.)
The Cowboys have worked hard to convince themselves, and everyone else, that they won the Parsons trade. The mere fact that they made a play for Crosby is a concession that they need a high-end, veteran pass rusher after losing the chess match that played out throughout the 2025 offseason, the entirety of training camp, and most of the preseason.
Every team would benefit from a high-end veteran pass rusher. After quarterback, a player who can affect the quarterback is the most important position in football, one that transcends the stat sheet because it forces an offense to always know where that player is and to divert other players to slowing him down.
It also accelerates the clock in the quarterback’s head, prompting him to possibly make bad decisions before the walls cave in.
Last year, the Cowboys made a bad decision to negotiate directly with Parsons, to take the position that he verbally agreed to a deal, to refuse to engage with his agent, and eventually to not pay one of the best players in all of football. The fact that they were willing to give up nearly as much as they got for Parsons proves it.