The Baltimore Ravens’ concerns about edge rusher Maxx Crosby’s health before nixing their deal with the Las Vegas Raiders were apparently more about his long-term durability rather than his viability for the 2026 season.
Baltimore discovered that Crosby had a “degenerative knee issue” that would cause issues beyond the 2026 season during its medical exam of the star edge rusher, ESPN reported Tuesday. It had been reported that the Ravens pulled out of the trade for Crosby due to medical concerns, but Tuesday’s report gave the first inclination for why Baltimore decided to opt out of the deal.
Crosby underwent surgery on a meniscus tear in his left knee in early January. While Crosby was able to play through the injury for the second half of the 2025 season, it was determined that he would need to undergo surgery at some point in the offseason.
Even though the Ravens knew that Crosby had recently undergone surgery, that didn’t prevent them from agreeing to a deal with the Raiders to send two first-round picks for the five-time Pro Bowler. One of those picks was the 14th overall selection in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta told reporters that he was “gutted” the team had to pull out of the trade for Crosby a day after the news broke that Baltimore was no longer doing the deal. But he also offered an explanation for why he felt the Ravens couldn’t go forward with the trade for Crosby.
“We’ve done a lot of different trades. One of the key things is you bring the player in and try to get as much information as you can,” DeCosta said. “We did that, and we were not able to complete the process of acquiring the player based on our assessment of the situation.”
Ravens cancel Maxx Crosby deal, What’s next for the Raiders?
While the Ravens might have felt like they saw enough in Crosby’s medicals to reasonably pull out of the trade, several people around the league were upset by their actions.
“Whatever they saw [in their medical exam] Es más una amenaza para la carrera de uno. De lo contrario, no haces esto”, le dijo un ejecutivo de la NFL a Ralph Vacchiano poco después de que los Ravens decidieran realizar el intercambio. “Sabían que había algo mal en su rodilla. Recientemente se sometió a una cirugía para solucionarlo. Parece que realmente tienen otras razones para querer salirse de este acuerdo”.
Personas cercanas a Crosby también salieron en su defensa poco después de que Baltimore optara por no realizar el intercambio.
“Max continúa en el camino hacia su recuperación. Y si algo sucede prematuramente. Según su cirujano, el Dr. Neil El Attrache”, dijo el agente de Crosby, C.J. Labot: escribió en una publicación en las redes sociales“Maxx sigue en camino de regresar fuera de temporada y, sin duda, regresará como el destructor dominante que ha sido durante las últimas siete temporadas”.
“A Maxx Crosby le está yendo muy bien durante las etapas iniciales de rehabilitación y recuperación de la cirugía para tratar un importante desgarro de menisco y una lesión por estrés relacionada con el hueso y el cartílago de la rodilla. Definitivamente va por buen camino con su programa… Se siente muy cómodo y ha mejorado mucho en comparación con antes de la cirugía”, dijo el Dr. Neil El-Attrache. añadió en un comunicado a ESPN..
Si bien los Raiders mantienen a Crosby por ahora, los Ravens podrían rotar y agregar un corredor de impacto esta temporada baja. Acordaron un contrato de cuatro años con el corredor estrella Trey Hendrickson, un día después de que se anunció que se retirarían del intercambio de Crosby.
