The Ravens have acquired Maxx Crosby from the Raiders for Baltimore’s 2026 and ’27 first-round draft picks. The Raiders had been asking for an additional player in addition to the picks to match the haul Dallas received for Micah Parsons, but did not get a veteran piece in the package for their star pass rusher. This marks the second time in the past decade that the Raiders have had one of the league’s best edge players under contract, but, in an effort to feed another regime change more draft equity, decided to trade that player at the height of, or near the end of, his expected athletic prime.
For Khalil Mack, the Raiders ended up with Josh Jacobs, Damon Arnette, Bryan Edwards and Quinton Bell. None of those players remain with the Raiders, none of them made it to second contracts and only Jacobs made it past a second season with the franchise. This is a cautionary way of saying that sometimes pick hauls in deals like these turn into Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson, and sometimes they are simply a delayed realization that the current coaching staff and executive team lack the necessary skills to build an operational organization or scheme.
