This will be my 22nd season covering the NFL, and I legitimately can’t think of a precedent for what went down on Tuesday night. We’ve seen failed physicals (Drew Brees being the most famous one). We’ve seen players back out of deals (hello, Frank Gore). But the sort of confluence of a star player, two teams, a massive trade package and then two days of free agent action/inaction by teams involved preceding a development like this?
Never before. And maybe never again.
To recap: On Friday night, the Raiders agreed to trade five-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Maxx Crosby to the Ravens for two first-round picks, with Baltimore outdistancing Dallas and Buffalo at the end to land the 28-year-old. Then, on Monday, on the presumption that they’d cleared $30 million off their cash and cap budgets for the 2026 season, the Raiders dove headlong into free agency and spent a ton of money. And the Ravens let a flurry of starters go.
All of which led to the social media bomb the Raiders detonated on their X account at 8:02 p.m. ET Tuesday: “The Baltimore Ravens have backed out of our trade agreement for Maxx Crosby. We will have no further comment at this time.”
Those 22 words set off a five-alarm fire that buzzed across the NFL landscape.
After taking a lot of that in and working to get to those involved, here are the biggest lingering questions from the early-evening bombshell that shook pro football:
What did the Ravens see in the physical that they didn’t already know?
The normal course of action for teams involved in a player trade is for the trading team to give its trainer permission to call the other team’s trainer to go through medical information. The trainers will then generally go through the player’s injury history, trade scans, MRIs and any other pertinent documentation, to the point where surprises coming up in the actual hands-on physical are rare, but not completely unheard of.
My understanding is that the Ravens were not comfortable with the condition of Crosby’s knee—in which he had a meniscus repair—after Tuesday’s physical. So, what did the Ravens discover during the physical, or in the imaging they did themselves, that wasn’t in the information the Raiders passed along to them during the normal course of the trade?
That’s the question.
What is the condition of Crosby’s knee?
Crosby posted a video on Feb. 27 from a basketball court, shooting and shouting out all the people who’d helped him with his rehab from the surgery. Then, after Tuesday’s news, Crosby’s agent C.J. LaBoy tweeted: “Maxx continues to be on track in his recovery and if anything is ahead of schedule according to his surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache. Maxx remains on track to return during the offseason program and will undoubtedly return as the dominant game wrecker he has been these past seven seasons.”
There's confidence there, but of course there would be. The question for Crosby, and any team pursuing him from here, would be the risk his left knee presents his employer.
Crosby initially injured the knee in October against the Chiefs, and played through it, knowing surgery would eventually be needed*. With pain increasing in the knee, the Raiders had scans done on Dec. 23, and subsequently told Crosby they were shutting him down, which led to a visceral reaction. Crosby was upset that the decision wasn’t his own and let the team know. He got two second opinions thereafter, one of which said he could play through the pain and finish the season. The Raiders stuck to their guns amid Crosby's suspicion that they were tanking for draft position.
The star then stormed out of a Dec. 26 meeting and, a couple of weeks later, after having the meniscus repaired, quietly, but decisively asked for a trade. He's rehabbed since, and while signs have been positive, not all meniscus repairs heal properly.
How does the knee injury impact Crosby’s longevity?
A football player failing his physical generally isn’t a black-and-white thing. Players are given a score from the doctor, and that score is adjusted based on the level of investment the team must make to acquire the player. Were Crosby coming in, for argument’s sake, for a seventh-round pick, he’d likely have passed the physical, because there would have been less risk than there was with the Ravens giving up two first-rounders to acquire him.
So that’s a moving target and the Ravens didn’t like what they saw Tuesday.
What did they see? Again, not all meniscus repairs heal properly, and the chance one wouldn’t heal would go up as a player gets older. They also may have found more arthritis in the knee, at which point Crosby’s longevity would become a bigger question. Either way, teams interested before Crosby was traded did have concerns about the toll his workload and breakneck playing style might’ve taken on him. And a meniscus injury can result from wear and tear.
How hard will it be for the Raiders to trade Crosby again?
Well, if you’re a team that had the mileage/playing style question to begin with regarding Crosby, then the Ravens’ decision-making here would at least give you pause and force you to take a very close look at how the knee is healing. And that’s tough, because it could have a chilling effect on the market to land Crosby.
Obviously, it only takes one team, and Crosby’s a great player. But there’s a reason why so few nonquarterbacks, even near Crosby’s age, have been dealt for the haul that the Raiders were supposed to get for him.
But since Friday, teams that were interested have moved forward, spent their cash and cap budgets, filled their rosters, and can’t go back on the commitments they’ve made for the chance that they land Crosby in a trade. As such, there will be fewer teams positioned to make a big offer and execute a trade, which only exacerbates the added injury concern from this saga.
So getting anything close to what Baltimore agreed to will be hard.
What does this mean for the Raiders’ and Ravens’ free agents?
Las Vegas came to terms with Tyler Linderbaum, Kwity Paye, Nakobe Dean, Quay Walker, Jalen Nailor and Eric Stokes, among others, during the legal tampering period. The Ravens lost Isaiah Likely, Charlie Kolar, Alohi Gilman, Jordan Stout, Dre’Mont Jones, Ar’Darius Washington and Linderbaum, too. Those deals, though, can’t become official until 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
The Raiders fully intended to honor all the agreements they made early in free agency. Could the Ravens double back with some of the guys they lost? Or will they just put all the Crosby eggs in the Trey Hendrickson basket? It's a weird spot for both teams.
What will be the lasting impact on the Ravens and Raiders?
Trust is the key.
I talked to three GMs who believed that the root of all this was the Ravens getting cold feet—and that Baltimore had to have the information, everyone knew about the knee, and it was pretty unlikely that any disqualifying surprise surfaced during the physical. The Ravens’ folks I subsequently spoke with vehemently denied that. Regardless, some suspicion will be cast on that organization moving forward. And so Baltimore’s next moves will be critical, because now everyone will be watching to see if anything underhanded is afoot.
As for the Raiders, this is a tough situation to dig out of. Vegas loses the picks and has a player some will view as damaged goods to trade. The Raiders could hang on to him, and they’d have a great player back. But whether he’s really willing to get back on board and lead another regime change is an open question. Then, there are all the commitments they’ve made to the free agent players, agreements, as we said, they intend to keep, if only to show the rest of the league that the new regime can be trusted.
Where does Crosby go from here?
We’ll be trying to figure that out ourselves over the next 48 to 72 hours.
More NFL on Sports Illustrated
- Albert Breer: NFL GMs Believe Ravens Got ‘Cold Feet’ on Nixed Maxx Crosby Trade
- Ravens to Sign Trey Hendrickson Following Maxx Crosby Trade Fallout
- Maxx Crosby’s Agent Issues Statement After Raiders-Ravens Trade Is Nullified
- Every Quarterback to Start for the Jets Since New York Drafted Geno Smith in 2013
- Albert Breer’s Free Agency Notes: What to Expect of Kyler Murray, Kirk Cousins Deals
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Answering the Biggest Questions Surrounding the Canceled Maxx Crosby Trade.
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