With Myles Garrett going to the Rams in a blockbuster deal this week, could the Raiders and Maxx Crosby be next?
Every indication is that Crosby and the Raiders have mended fences since the deal with Baltimore fell through, but there’s no question that teams are still interesting in trading for Crosby and ESPN’s Bart Scott said this week he believes the Eagles should be considered the front runner to trade for the All Pro edge rusher.
ESPN’s Peter Schrager said he had not heard of the Eagles interest in Crosby (though it’s worth noting that the Eagles often do deals quietly), but another team likely to continue checking on Crosby is the 49ers.
The 49ers were 1-1 against their division rival Rams last year but were beaten by the Seahawks in the regular season finale and embarrassed 41-6 by Seattle in the playoffs.
There’s not a better division in the NFL than the NFC West and the 49ers seem to be falling behind in their division from the standpoint of roster talent. For that reason, long-time Las Vegas insider Vinny Bonsignore thinks the 49ers need to call about Crosby, who he believes can still be “pried away” from the Raiders for the right price.
“It’s time to push the chips to the middle of the table, and that means Lynch calling Raiders general manager John Spytek and making an offer,” Bonsignore wrote this week at the New York Post.
“According to multiple league sources, that deal framework would likely be a 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-round pick and young defensive end Mykel Williams for Crosby. Remember, the Condor began his illustrious career in the Bay Area back in 2019. And he longs to win at the highest level and play on the NFL’s biggest stages. It’s why he wanted to leave the Raiders last March and welcomed a trade to the Baltimore Ravens.”
For what it’s worth, the Raiders were linked to Williams prior to the 2025 draft and Todd McShay believed the Raiders might take him with the no. 6 pick they used on Ashton Jeanty.
“After talking with some people in the league over the weekend, I no longer expect Jeanty to be the pick at 6,” McShay said last year prior to the draft. “Don’t be surprised if the Raiders start a run on edge rushers at 6, with Jalon Walker and Mykel Williams the most obvious fits. Many teams have Walker higher on their board, but my gut tells me Pete Carroll could bet on traits and take Williams here.”
Obviously, Carroll’s time with the Raiders is over, but GM John Spytek is still with the team and a report in April said Jeanty wasn’t necessarily the direction Spytek wanted to go with the no. 6 pick.
Bonsignore says Crosby is expected to be fully recovered from knee surgery by training camp
“Yes, [Crosby] is coming off offseason knee surgery in January, but by all accounts, he is on track to be cleared for training camp,” Bonsignore said.
“He also has a major chip on his shoulder after the Ravens abruptly backed out of the trade they made for him last March, blaming concerns about his knee for their about-face. Not that the perpetually motivated Crosby needs any more reason to be even more driven, but don’t think for a second he isn’t determined to shove the Ravens’ diss about him straight down their throat.”
Would the Raiders be wise to move on from Crosby while he still has trade value?
Crosby will turn 29 in August, and there have been questions raised about the long-term viability of his knee.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero said in March that full meniscus repairs don’t generally offer a great long-term prognosis for NFL players.
“I’m not a doctor, but in very simple terms, when you have a meniscus trim, that’s just cutting out the injured piece of the meniscus. Think of it like a hangnail. It’s bugging you. You get some clippers and you clip it off,” Pelissero said on the Rich Eisen Show.
“Meniscus repair would be like the really deep hangnail where it’s starting to bleed, and you know the skin’s going to fall off and you wrap it up with a Band-Aid and you try to keep it tight.”
“I talked to one doctor who’s very heavy into the injury data who said meniscus repairs have a 50 percent failure rate after one year, 80 percent failure rate after four years based upon their data. And again, that doesn’t mean the knee falls apart. It’s not like a failed ACL reconstruction, but basically it means you’re going to have less healthy cartilage in your knee. Your body cannot generate new healthy cartilage.”
x: @raidersbeat
Vinny is a shill for the team but that also means he can report whispers