PHOENIX – The Baltimore Ravens created plenty of controversy when they reneged on their trade with the Las Vegas Raiders for defensive end Maxx Crosby.
Amid the flurry of headlines and social media criticisms, it could be argued that no one was happier to have the star edge rusher back than Raiders owner Mark Davis.
“All the way along, I said I didn’t want Maxx to leave,” Davis told the Review-Journal on Tuesday at the NFL Meeting in Phoenix. “I want him to be part of this organization forever.
“He’s been a great Raider. He’s a great person. Great dad. All of that. Unfortunately, things transpired where he was traded and I wasn’t sad that they sent him back.”
In 2024, Davis went as far as sending ESPN an email in response to rumors that Crosby could be traded.
“We’re Not Trading Maxx Crosby,” Davis wrote. “Before Or After The Trade Deadline!!!”
Two years later, Davis had to consider an alternative for the five-time Pro Bowler.
Davis went to Crosby’s house for a meeting during the team’s 3-14 season, and agreed that parting ways shouldn’t be off the table anymore.
In a moment first reported by The Athletic, Davis shared memories with Crosby but also listened to Crosby’s issues with the team.
A couple months after that conversation, Crosby was traded and then returned to sender following the Ravens’ concerns with his physical exam. This came after Crosby had surgery in January to repair a left meniscus tear he suffered in 2025.
Kubiak prioritizing Crosby
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New coach Klint Kubiak also was all smiles when discussing Crosby on Tuesday.
“We lost him, we got him back. Our team’s better. Hell yeah,” Kubiak said. “Maxx is the best player on our defense. He’s going to be a leader on our team, and a guy that we’re counting on to go win a lot of games with.”
When Kubiak was asked for his immediate reaction to the trade being canceled, he didn’t hold back.
“I think anytime there’s a trade, you always know it could go down that way,” he said. “Once it happened, I was really excited. (General manager John Spytek) came and talked to me about it. We sat down and my first thing was a smile.”
Kubiak didn’t call Crosby in the immediate aftermath of the Ravens’ reversal, opting to shoot him a text message instead. He saw him at the Raiders headquarters in Henderson the next day.
“(He was) doing his rehab, kind of like nothing ever happened,” Kubiak said. “He’s one of the first guys there every day.”
Crosby around the NFL
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NFL commissioner Roger Goodell offered a short answer Tuesday when asked if there were any discussions at league meetings about changing anything with the legal tampering period in free agency or trade process after the Crosby spectacle:
“No.”
The Dallas Cowboys were seriously involved in trade talks for Crosby, and team owner Jerry Jones told reporters Tuesday that he didn’t see an issue with what took place.
“For me, there’s no hidden item there,” Jones said. “You have to pass a physical. You have to. And we’ve never completed an agreement until the player passes a physical. That implies that your doctors, your trainers and everybody involved gets to take a look at him.
”That goes with the territory. We would have basically had the same conditions with the physical. As you know, we were in on making an offer for him. So he would have come to Dallas and we’ll all just guess what would have happened.”
Raiders general manager John Spytek indicated Monday that the team sees Crosby as a major addition but is still taking calls. But it sounds like the Cowboys might be out.
“Standing here right now, I don’t anticipate revisiting that situation,” Jones said. “Is it possible? Yes.”
_Contact Callie Fin at [cfin@reviewjournal.com.](mailto:cfin@reviewjournal.com) Follow [@CallieJLaw](https://x.com/@CallieJLaw) on X._