According to a report on Thursday, the Raiders are telling teams Maxx Crosby won’t be traded and combined with Crosby’s announcement on Wednesday that he is ready to run it back in Las Vegas, there is more reason now than at any point in the last three months to believe he is going to play for the Raiders next year.
For everyone wanting to see Crosby back with the Raiders in 2026, that’s the good news.
But the reality of the situation, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, is that Crosby could still end up with another team before the start of the season.
“My understanding is he was back in the building yesterday, the day after this all happened. He’s right back in the building working out [and] rehabbing. He spoke with Clint Kubiak. He spoke with John Spytek. He spoke with Mark Davis. He told everybody ‘I’m all in. I’m a raider. I’m going to be here and I’m going to keep doing everything that I’ve been doing to be the best player for this organization,'” Pelissero said on the Rich Eisen Show.
“Like anything else though with Maxx Crosby, I would just say you can never rule out that there’s another twist in the saga,” Pelissero continued. “Just like when we were sitting there at the Combine and John Spytek had said we expect Maxx Crosby on the team and I came on the show and said, ‘Don’t be surprised if he’s traded within the next 7 to 10 days.'”
“I would just say there are still teams. I can tell you this for all the talk about all the prices plummeting, there are still teams that would trade for Maxx Crosby now. There potentially will be even more teams that will trade for Maxx Crosby around the draft or in June when he’s getting closer to clearance and that knee is closer to being healed. We will know Maxx Crosby is a Raider again when we see Maxx Crosby wearing a Raiders uniform in week one.”
As has always been the case, the organizational path to getting maximum return for Crosby is to put out the message that they don’t plan to trade him. Maybe the Raiders mean it this time, but the head coach and GM certainly sounded like they weren’t interested in trading Crosby a few weeks ago at the NFL Combine.
Crosby’s trade value took a dive this week, but there’s a good chance it will go up closer to the draft.
On Thursday, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said he wouldn’t rule out making another run at Crosby before the start of the season.
“We’re pretty far down the road relative to what our plans are,” Jones told Schuyler Dixon of the Associated Press. “So while I don’t anticipate it, I don’t want to rule anything out.”
Six weeks from now, if a team like Dallas is willing to give up two first-round picks from Crosby, would Tom Brady and the decision makers in Las Vegas turn it down?
Based on Pelissero’s statements, it sounds like there will be more avenues out of Las Vegas for Crosby between now and the start of the 2026 season, and outside of Brady and maybe GM John Spytek, no one actually knows what the Raiders will do if they are impressed by another trade offer.
In fact, that message was endorsed by one of the best-connected Raiders’ sources on social media (and someone believed to be in the Raiders’ building) on Thursday, as well…
x: @raidersbeat
The Raiders and Maxx claim that he will be Raider. The Raiders should make their new asking price 3 number ones or 2 number ones and that team’s best o-line or d-lineman. In other words, up the ante to prove to Maxx that you, the Raiders, are committed to keep him.
Good idea, Brent. And why would anyone want to go play for Jerry Jones?
1. FERNANDO MENDOZA
36. MAX IHEANACHOR
67. DANI DENNIS-SUTTON
102. ANTONIO WILLIAMS
117. NICHOLAS SINGLETON
134. ZANE DURANT
175. TACARIO DAVIS
185. RED MURDOCK
208. BISHOP FITZGERALD
219. ERIC GENTRY