The Ravens are having a rough offseason so far, and blowing up the Maxx Crosby trade can damage their reputation. That seems to be the buzz after the Raiders broke the news last night, issuing a statement claiming that Baltimore “backed out of our trade”. Reportedly, the Ravens failed Crosby on his physical, but insiders are still calling shenanigans.
Maxx Crosby recently had meniscus surgery, and it was overwhelmingly obvious to everybody involved that he would not “pass” any traditional physical right now. The Ravens are known to have among the most stringent physicals in the league. They have reneged on contract offers in the past, including Ryan Grant in 2018 and Michael Brockers in 2020.
In both cases, as with the Maxx Crosby trade, the Ravens “agreed to terms” without any official deal in place. After all, there can be no deal in place before the start of the new league year, nor trades executed. Everything is preliminary, and nothing is official before teams pass players on their physicals. The Ravens are far from the first team to fail a player on his physical and won’t be the last.
But unless the Raiders or Crosby are hiding something serious, backing out of this trade is a bad look for the Ravens. As you might guess, Las Vegas doesn’t appear to be happy about this at all, especially since they could have traded Crosby to the Cowboys instead, who moved on to another trade offer—which technically isn’t official yet, either, mind you.
According to NFL insider Cameron Wolfe, there is widespread belief around the league that the Ravens simply “got cold feet” before backing out of the Maxx Crosby trade. They were prepared to send two first-round picks to the Raiders, having never traded a first-round pick before.
One NFL general manager told me everybody involved in Maxx Crosby trade talks knew he would be out until June/July coming off meniscus surgery.
Consensus opinion I’ve got from NFL decision makers: Ravens got cold feet & it could impact how other teams work w/ BAL going forward.
— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) March 11, 2026
Wolfe and others noted that backing out of the Crosby trade “could impact how other teams work” with the Ravens in the future. And that shouldn’t be surprising. If you have an agreement with another party, you expect them to honor it. Once you have an agreement, you start to put plans in motion accordingly. After agreeing to trade Crosby to the Ravens, the Raiders made a bunch of signings in free agency.
“Teams around the NFL are definitely shocked to say the least”, wrote Jay Glazer, “at the Ravens backing out [of the Maxx Crosby trade]. He noted that some teams who were in on trade talks have already moved on and “can’t jump in now”.
Likewise, Jason La Canfora said he spoke to multiple general managers who are “not buying the Ravens’ failed physical narrative”. He editorialized, “Good luck finding agents and teams to trust you in negotiations now”.
Just got off the phone with two GMs. Neither one buying the Ravens failed physical narrative – not by a long shot. Good luck finding agents and teams to trust you in negotiations now. It's not sitting well with the Raiders either. Coulda got further medicals on Crosby way sooner
— Jason La Canfora (@JasonLaCanfora) March 11, 2026
The Ravens are embarking on a new chapter this offseason, parting with HC John Harbaugh after 18 seasons. They seemed to view an elite pass-rusher like Maxx Crosby as the missing piece in their championship puzzle, and they stepped up to trade for him. But did they decide the price was too high, or did they really find something they didn’t anticipate? Surely Baltimore will be eager to leak its side of the story; whether it will convince anybody is another matter.
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