Maxx Crosby #98 of the Las Vegas Raiders remains a Dallas Cowboys target.
Getty
Maxx Crosby #98 of the Las Vegas Raiders remains a Dallas Cowboys target.
Give the Dallas Cowboys credit. At least, from what’s coming out from The Star, the team’s interest in making a trade for Raiders star Maxx Crosby died once the team traded a 2027 fourth-rounder for Rashan Gary more than two weeks ago. Gary is their star edge rusher. Crosby is just a guy who plays in the AFC West.
And yet …
The Cowboys can’t seem to escape the notion that the Raiders trading away Crosby will almost certainly involve them. This week on the DLLS Cowboys podcast, veteran team reporter Clarence Hill said that the Dallas interest in Crosby is not dead, and that the Cowboys–the boldest team at the NFL trade deadline in recent years–could circle back on a Crosby deal when next year’s deadline is set.
But on ESPN, they’re doing Hill one better. Crosby, they say, is still on the Cowboys’ radar heading into the April draft, where the Cowboys have two first-round picks, at No. 12 and No. 20. If the Raiders, after nearly trading Crosby once already this offseason in a deal that was rescinded for medial reasons by the Ravens, put Crosby back on the market, the Cowboys would have to bite.
Cowboys Came Up With 3 Offers
That’s the view from former Jets general manager Mike Tannenbaum, as well as former NFL quarterback Dan Orlovsky. Both are very good, plugged-in pre-draft information sources, and both said on Wednesday that it would be a mistake to assume that the Cowboys are out on a pursuit of Crosby–in the next few weeks.
The Cowboys offered the Raiders a first-rounder (No. 20) and Osa Odighizuwa originally, and came back with an offer of the No. 12 pick and a third-rounder. Dallas’ final offer was No. 12 in 2026 and a 2027 second-round pick. The Raiders refused all three, taking the Ravens’ offer of two 2026 first-rounders.
At least, until the Ravens backed out.
Cowboys Maxx Crosby Offer ‘In the Ballpark’
Speaking about the Cowboys’ three different offers, Tannenbaum said, “It’s in the ballpark. Look, Dallas is probably saying, ‘I don’t want to give up the 12th pick in the draft if I am worried about where he is going to be in three years.’ My pushback to that is, there’s no certainty that your first-round pick is going to be on your team in three years.
“If I am Dallas, because I was so bad, this is an opportunity they need to take advantage of.”
Remember, the Cowboys, just five months ago, traded away former first-round pick Mazi Smith to the Jets to get Quinnen Williams, the star defensive lineman. Smith was an utter bust for the Cowboys, and before he was traded, he was benched for most of the 2025 season, even with a massively struggling defense.
Tannenbaum makes a fair point then–the Cowboys can protect their draft asset, but that asset might be a waste.
Maxx Crosby a Difference-Maker for a Down Defense
The fact is, the Cowboys have the offense, with a healthy (knock on wood) Dak Prescott, a star (Javonte Williams) at running back and the best wide-receiver room in the NFL, to go to the Super Bowl for the first time in three decades.
But they need a semblance of a top-tier defense.
That’s where Orlovsky backed Tannenbaum’s assertion on Crosby: “Jerry Jones has rightfully come out and said, playoff-caliber, championship-caliber offense. That means, at least in his mind, he has a win-now offense. I don’t think Jerry Jones should be worried about what, potentially, Maxx Crosby’s health is gonna be like in 2030 if he makes this first-round pick trade. It’s, ‘Wait, can I get a difference-maker on third down now?’”