Last week, Las Vegas Raiders superstar defensive end Maxx Crosby was seemingly headed to the Baltimore Ravens as part of a blockbuster trade. Now, not only has that trade fallen through, but it sounds like Crosby won’t be traded to any team at all.
On Friday of last week, the Raiders agreed to trade Crosby to Baltimore in exchange for two first-round picks. However, that trade fell through, with the Raiders announcing on Tuesday that the Ravens had “pulled out” of the blockbuster deal for the star defensive end.
“The Baltimore Ravens have backed out of our trade agreement for Maxx Crosby. We will have no further comment at this time,” the Raiders announced in a short statement on Tuesday.
Despite claims that the Ravens simply got cold feet, Ravens GM Eric DeCosta insisted that they were really “really excited” about the trade and “gutted” that it fell through.
“We were really excited about adding Maxx, potentially adding Maxx to our team,” DeCosta said this week. “I had already begun discussions with John Spytek, those discussions continued, we were really thinking that we were getting some traction. We did. As part of the normal trade process, there were a lot of different parts with the trade process, we’ve done a lot of trades. One of the key things is you bring a player in and try to get as much information as you can. We were not able to complete the process of trading for the player, based on our assessment of the situation.”
“I’ve got a responsibility to the Ravens,” DeCosta continued. “I understand how people from afar would feel that way, but nobody’s more upset about this than me. Gutted by it, actually, a big regret for me.”
With Crosby now returning to the Raiders, there was wide speculation that the Raiders would then look for another trade partner for Crosby. However, it doesn’t sound like that’s going to happen after all.
On Thursday night, Crosby publicly affirmed his commitment to the Raiders, saying, “I’m A Raider. I’m Back,” in a post on social media.
“Everything Happens For A Reason,” Crosby wrote in a post on X on Wednesday night. “Believe Nothing You Hear & Half Of What You See. I’m A Raider. I’m Back. Run That [expletive].”
Following that commitment from Crosby, it sounds like the Raiders have now decided not to trade him. According to a report from Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, the Raiders never actually wanted to trade Crosby in the first place. Now that he has decided he wants to remain with the team, they’re no longer looking for trade partners.
“Per a league source, the Raiders are currently telling teams that defensive end Maxx Crosby won’t be traded, in the aftermath of the failed effort to ship him to the Ravens for a pair of first-round picks,” Florio wrote for Pro Football Talk. “The Raiders, we’re told, never wanted to trade him. He wanted out. Now that he’s back and has publicly recommitted to the Raiders, he’s staying put.”
This seemingly puts an end to what has been the most bizarre story of the offseason.