Why some NFL personnel think Raiders deserve blame for Maxx Crosby, Ravens debacle

The most-discussed NFL-related story of March continues to be the Baltimore Ravens backing out of their agreement to trade two first-round draft picks to the Las Vegas Raiders for star pass-rusher Maxx Crosby after Crosby failed a physical for reasons related to the meniscus repair he needed earlier this offseason. 

NFL executives, general managers and others around the league have ripped the Ravens for their handling of the situation. However, NFL insider Jason La Canfora shared for Casino.org on Thursday that some feel the Raiders should and could have protected themselves before the Crosby deal fell through.

Maxx Crosby move not out of character for Ravens?

"You have to know who you’re dealing with," one general manager said about the Ravens while speaking with La Canfora. "Those guys have used the physical to get out of deals before. They had never traded a one (first-round pick) for a player, ever, and now they’re going to trade two for a 29-year-old (Crosby turns 29 this coming summer) coming off surgery? The agents knew there was a chance Baltimore would pull out of this thing. It’s not like it’s out of character."

As Mike Sando and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic noted, the Ravens previously backed out of agreements with players in 2018 and 2020 after physicals raised concerns. Some assume that Baltimore had questions about how Crosby "is going to be able to handle the rigors of an NFL season or multiple NFL seasons" coming off his latest injury. 

That said, others think Crosby was a fallback option for Baltimore in the event that the Ravens were unable to sign former Cincinnati Bengals pass-rusher Trey Hendrickson. Baltimore and Hendrickson ultimately agreed to a four-year, $112M contract that includes $60M in fully guaranteed money and could be worth up to $120M, but Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta later insisted that he planned to acquire both Hendrickson and Crosby this offseason. 

"Giving them that much time to sit on this thing was a bad idea," a second GM told La Canfora about the Raiders' side of the Crosby trade debacle. "Five days or whatever it was. That’s way too long." 

What could Raiders have done differently to get Maxx Crosby trade over the line? 

One contract negotiator who works for another team told La Canfora that the Raiders were "naive" to not know there was a chance the Ravens would eventually nullify the trade for Crosby.  

"You either tell them that they have to do the deal not contingent on a physical, because there is no way he is being cleared for football activities in March, or you give them 48 hours to evaluate the player, and you make sure you get closure on that before they can get cold feet, or pivot to an alternative," the negotiator added.

Also on Thursday, New Raiders wide receiver Jalen Nailor said the events of the past couple of weeks "definitely lit a fire" under Crosby. The negotiator told La Canfora that he thinks Crosby will now "have his best season" because he will "use this as motivation."

Crosby and the Raiders seem prepared to stay married through at least this offseason, so he could prove to be somewhat of an unexpected gem for Las Vegas this coming fall if Nailor and the negotiator are right.