Maxx Crosby
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Las Vegas Raiders pass rusher Maxx Crosby
The Baltimore Ravens on Friday made the biggest splash of the offseason so far with their blockbuster trade for the Las Vegas Raiders star edge rusher Maxx Crosby.
It was somewhat of an unexpected result, with the Ravens ending up with Crosby, but the team presented the best offer to the Raiders, offering two first-round picks to get the deal done.
Who wins and loses a tradeisn’t black-and-white, especially when assessing it before the full deal pans out, but on initial inspection, one ESPN analyst believes the Raiders are the team that came out on top.
Raiders On Top
ESPN’s Seth Walder is skeptical that the trade is in bothteams’ best interests. In his March 6 free agency grades article, he gave the Raiders an “A” and the Ravens a “C”grade for the trade. Walder, while acknowledgingCrosby’s excellent play, was slightly concerned about his pass-rush win rate.
“His pass rush win rate is slightly lower than one might expect for a star: 17.2% over the past four years at edge, which is in the 79th percentile, Walder says. “But at the same time, he has 222 pass-rush wins over that span — the fourth most in the league — because he never comes off the field.Crosby has played at least 94% of defensive snaps ingames played over the past four years. He is also excellent against the run, which is part of the reason he never leaves the field and also what makes him remarkable given his aforementioned pass-rushing chops.”
Walder also believes the Raiders got the better end of the deal because their time with Crosby was up anyway, and that the team got the best possible deal out of the situation.
“For the Raiders, this is about the best result they could have imagined. Their time with Crosby had run its course, and I truly thought they had missed their opportunity to maximize their return for him,”Walder said. “I thought they might get a first- and a third-round pick. Instead,it’s two firsts (including No. 14 this year) — a superb return. And the fact thatCrosby’s deal is almost all salary means they get to offload the money owed to Baltimore.”
Who wins and loses the trade is still up for debate, but for those who had to go against Crosby twice a season,they’re elatedhe’s out of the division.
SomeoneElse’s Problem
Maxx Crosby, since hewas drafted by the Raiders in 2019, has been terrorizing the AFC West. The two-time All-Pro in his last 25 games against teams in the AFC West has 22 sacks.This is a stat people like Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton are keenly aware of.
NFL InsiderJay Glazer wrote on Twitter that Payton was happy to see Crosby out of the division.
“Sean Payton called me soooo fired up the Raiders traded Maxx Crosby and even just texted Maxx sayinghe’s offering to pay a private plane one-way flight to Baltimore, happy to see him out of the division,”Glazer said. “Funny, but also added, ‘You are an inspiration to watch and compete against.’Payton has long raved about how Maxx never slows down during games.”
Who wins this trade cannot be determined in the near future, but for the Ravens, Crosby feels like the right guy to put them over the top.