Newest Information on Maxx Crosby’s Knee Not All Encouraging

After an unprecedented week of blockbuster trades and failed physicals, the Raiders and Maxx Crosby are back together and if nothing else was accomplished in the last seven days, we’ve learned a lot more about Crosby’s surgically repaired knee.

From league insiders and sources around the league, here’s what has been reported in the last week on Crosby’s knee and the outlook for his knee of going forward.

It was not a minor surgery performed on his knee

It was already known that Crosby underwent more than just a meniscus trim in January, and according to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the timeline for full recovery could be anywhere from 4 to 6 months.

Crosby’s own doctor called Crosby’s injury a “significant” meniscus repair, adding that he addressed “related stress injury to the bone and cartilage in his knee.”

It has also been suggested that Crosby probably did additional damage to his knee by playing on a torn meniscus until the end of December. Only Crosby’s doctors could speak with authority on that matter, but it’s probably a safe assumption that the Raiders were wise to shut him down when they did. If anything, they could have done it a little sooner.

ESPN’s Adam Schefter said he had heard Crosby’s knee was “not great”

“I’ll go back to when I first heard that the Ravens and Raiders were engaged in discussions. Someone brought up to me the fact that there were concerns about Maxx Crosby’s name. This was before the trade was made. And I’m like, ‘How bad?’ [The person said], ‘Supposedly not great.’ That was an interesting comment that I heard, and we’ll see how that goes,” Schefter said on The Adam Schefter Podcast this week.

“But I would also say this,” Schefter continued. “Having spoken to the man who performed the knee surgery on Maxx Crosby eight weeks ago, Dr. Neil Neal ElAttrache… he’s adamant that despite the fact that Maxx had the surgery eight weeks ago, despite the fact that he got off crutches one week ago, one week ago he’s off crutches, after being on crutches for seven straight weeks, that Maxx Crosby is exactly where he should be in his recovery right now.”

“The problem… is that the physical was taking place Tuesday, March 10th, not in May, because in May, Maxx Crosby is passing that physical and he’s getting ready for the season. But right now he’s a week off crutches. He’s two months out of surgery and the Ravens obviously had concerns.”

Obviously, Schefter isn’t going to share his sources, but if the “not great” information on Crosby’s knee came from the Ravens’ building, they may have been setting the stage for the dramatics they pulled at the start of the week.

When it comes to sharing information in the NFL, everyone has an angle, right?

The success rate of meniscus repair surgeries in the NFL isn’t great

As has been pointed out many times, the Ravens weren’t comfortable with the long-term outlook on Crosby’s knee.

It also sounds like they weren’t concerned about the chances of him returning to full strength in 2026.

What spooked the Ravens was probably the data associated with a report from NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, who said meniscus repairs don’t generally offer a great long-term prognosis at the NFL level.

“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,” Pelissero continued.

“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.”

So what will the Raiders and Crosby do from here?

Every indication is that the sides have gotten together and smoothed out the situation, but there are still skeptics and not everyone is convinced Crosby will be with the Raiders in 2026.

This message went out on Thursday, and the belief is that ‘AFL Godfather’ is someone who works in the Raiders’ building…

A month or two from now, the chances of Crosby experiencing a setback will be less than they are today, so it will be interesting to see if trade rumors ramp up again before the draft.

But unlike last time, Crosby has essentially announced that he’s coming back.

So maybe this time it will be different?

x: @raidersbeat

NFL Insider Tom Pelissero: Raiders Still Have Plenty of Suitors for Maxx Crosby | Rich Eisen Show

NFL Insider Tom Pelissero and Rich Eisen break down how the Ravens’ and Raiders’ deal for Maxx Crosby went south and the chances Las Vegas still trades the All-Pro DE before next season. Tune in to the Emmy-nominated Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from Noon to 3PM ET on Disney+, ESPN+, ESPN Radio, and streaming on SiriusXM channel 80.