Maxx Crosby
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One anonymous NFL general manager is a big fan of what the Raiders have done so far this offseason
Here’s the thing about most high-ranking NFL executives — they assume the rest of us are beneath them. They assume we will all just believe whatever they say, no matter how ridiculous it sounds.
Even with that understanding, Baltimore Ravens president Sashi Brown threw out a wild one on the 1st day of the NFL owners meetings in Phoenix on Monday.
Brown claimed that after the Ravens called off the blockbuster trade for Maxx Crosby, it only generated headlines because of a “slow news cycle.”
“We’ve got strong and long relationships across the league,” Brown told ESPN’s Jamison Hensley. “We have emphasized the importance of doing things the right way. We’ll continue to do that. And we understand that it is a headline story because of its profile and significance. We believe our relationships, to the extent that you need time to repair them, people understand who we are and what we’re about. When you have high-profile transactions like this and opportunities like this, it’s unfortunate, but sometimes these things do happen — no fault of Maxx, ours, or the Raiders. It’s just kind of how it played out.”
Maybe Brown is just trying to convince himself that calling off the single-biggest trade of the year didn’t make the Ravens look as bad as it appeared on the surface.
After Baltimore reneged on sending their 2026 and 2027 1st round picks to the Las Vegas Raiders for 1 of the NFL’s elite edge rushers, the blowback was dramatic, and it could have long-lasting effects on how the Ravens are viewed by the rest of the NFL.
NFL Insider: Ravens Lied After Trade Fell Through
In Crosby’s version of events, it’s very clear that before a failed physical — he had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in January — the Ravens were already moving in another direction.
The greatest evidence of this seems to be that the Ravens signed free agent edge rusher Trey Hendrickson to a 4-year, $112 million contract just hours after they backed out of the Crosby trade.
“With what Maxx Crosby said (on Tuesday), it makes Eric DeCosta and the Ravens look worse than I originally thought,” NFL insider Chase Senior said on Tuesday. ” … how about this, he was in the Ravens facility for 5 hours and didn’t meet Eric DeCosta once. After he flew across the country. After you made a trade of 2 1st round picks for him. After he became one of the faces of your franchise. What are we doing here? Spare me with the ‘it almost brought me to tears’ … bull (expletive).”
True Feelings Come Out About Ravens GM
The aborted trade seemed to bring out some long-buried feelings about DeCosta, who has been the general manager of the Ravens since 2019 and has worked for the franchise since 1996.
“The Ravens and Eric DeCosta are being called dishonest and dishonorable among NFL circles,” ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith said on Thursday morning. “I’m not saying that, but we have an obligation to point out that’s what is being said about him. I don’t know Eric DeCosta from a can of paint, but people in NFL circles, because of how this was handled, are saying that. That’s why he came out with his press conference and said whatever he said — where he tried to act contrite — because he knows it’s not a good look for him in the NFL community.”