Jeremy Fowler
Dan Graziano
Dan Graziano
senior NFL national reporter
Dan Graziano is a senior NFL national reporter for ESPN, covering the entire league and breaking news. Dan also contributes to Get Up, NFL Live, SportsCenter, ESPN Radio, Sunday NFL Countdown and Fantasy Football Now. He is a New Jersey native who joined ESPN in 2011, and he is also the author of two published novels.
Ryan McFadden
Ryan McFadden
Ryan McFadden covers the Las Vegas Raiders for ESPN’s NFL Nation. Prior to ESPN, McFadden was a Denver Broncos beat reporter for the Denver Post. McFadden also wrote about the Baltimore Ravens and University of Maryland athletics for The Baltimore Sun.
Ben Solak
Ben Solak
ESPN
Ben Solak joined ESPN in 2024 as a national NFL analyst. He previously covered the NFL at The Ringer, Bleeding Green Nation and The Draft Network.
Seth Walder
Seth Walder
ESPN Analytics
Seth Walder is an analytics writer at ESPN, specializing in quantitative analysis. He is also a regular on “ESPN Bet Live” and helps cover sports betting. Seth has been at ESPN since 2017. He previously worked at the New York Daily News covering the Jets and Giants. You can follow Seth on X via @SethWalder.
Multiple Authors
NFL teams can’t officially make trades until the new league year begins on March 11, but they can start negotiating and agreeing to terms before then. We came up with four potential offers for Eagles wide receiver A.J. Brown on Thursday, but another star has part of the trade conversation: Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby.
New Las Vegas head coach Klint Kubiak and owner Mark Davis made it clear that they want Crosby to return, while Crosby has said any talk of wanting out of Las Vegas did not come from him. Still, what if Crosby was on available?
We asked NFL analysts Jeremy Fowler, Dan Graziano, Ben Solak and Seth Walder to play general manager of four different teams and craft realistic trade offers for Crosby. Then we had Raiders reporter Ryan McFadden make a decision based on what general manager John Spytek and the team could do this offseason.
Here’s how our market simulation played out, starting with some background on Crosby’s situation and ending with a verdict on a potential new landing spot.
Jump to:Where things standFour offers | The verdict
The latest on a potential Maxx Crosby trade
This situation is pretty fluid. Crosby, who signed a three-year, $106.5 million extension last offseason, was upset the team shut him down during the final two weeks of the season because of a knee injury that required surgery in January. He has also been determined to win at the highest level, and the Raiders are starting a rebuild under first-time head coach Klint Kubiak.
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A trade could be beneficial for both sides. Crosby, 28, could get an opportunity to play for a true contender. Meanwhile, the Raiders would have a dead-cap hit of $5.1 million but save $30.69 million, according to OverTheCap.com. Las Vegas could also add draft capital to help build on its roster.
Still, there’s a strong argument in keeping Crosby. Edge rushers are a premium position and Crosby is continuously one of the best in the league. He earned his fifth Pro Bowl selection in 2025 after 10 sacks in 15 games. And we’ve seen teams turn things around in one season. The Patriots, for example, appeared in Super Bowl LX despite finishing 4-13 in 2024.
Las Vegas has the second-most cap space in the league (per Roster Management System) and is expected to have eight draft picks, including the first overall pick. If the Raiders play their cards right, they could field a competitive roster sooner rather than later. Las Vegas also promoted defensive line coach Rob Leonard, who works directly with Crosby, to defensive coordinator. — Ryan McFadden, Raiders reporter
Four hypothetical trade offers for Crosby
Jeremy Fowler’s offer:
Raiders get: WR DJ Moore, 2026 first-round pick (No. 25 overall), 2027 third-round pick
Bears get: Crosby
Why this deal makes sense: Like Bill Barnwell’s suggested proposal from Monday, I have Moore involved in this Crosby trade with Chicago. The Bears must upgrade a defensive line that tied with the Bengals for last in pass rush win rate last season (28.8%). The presence of Crosby would elevate a team on the cusp of being a contender after reaching the divisional round in coach Ben Johnson’s first year with the team.
Moore’s departure would allow Chicago to center its future passing game around Rome Odunze, Colston Loveland and Luther Burden III. They would also save $16.5 million on the cap, helping absorb Crosby’s three-year, $106.5 million deal. For Las Vegas, it gets an alpha receiver for projected No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza and additional draft capital to improve other units.
Dan Graziano’s offer:
Raiders get: WR George Pickens, 2026 first-round pick (No. 20 overall)
Cowboys get: Crosby, 2026 second-round pick (No. 36 overall)
Why this deal makes sense: The Cowboys likely aren’t going to fork over a long-term, top-of-market deal for Pickens, and franchise-tagging him could cause more problems than it solves (as it did last year with edge rusher Micah Parsons). They get back Crosby, who will make around $30 million per year for the next two years and would replace Parsons. Then, Dallas could look elsewhere for its No. 2 wide receiver.
The Raiders would have to sign Pickens long-term, but they’re not already paying CeeDee Lamb top-three WR money, as the Cowboys are. Pickens fits better into Las Vegas’ budget than he does into Dallas’ roster.
1:27
Fowler: The Cowboys-Pickens situation could get messy
Jeremy Fowler, Damien Woody and Tim Hasselbeck discuss the future of George Pickens with the Dallas Cowboys.
Ben Solak’s offer:
Raiders get: WR Chris Godwin Jr., 2026 first-round pick (No. 15 overall), 2027 second-round pick
Buccaneers get: Crosby, 2027 fifth-round pick
Why this deal makes sense: Raiders general manager John Spytek worked under Buccaneers general manager Jason Licht for years in Tampa Bay, so he would likely value Godwin more than most other teams. Godwin would be a target sponge in Las Vegas and give Kubiak a quality blocking receiver. Godwin and a first-round pick, along with some more finagling in the middle rounds, should get the deal done.
Crosby would solve the edge-rushing problem Tampa Bay has been unable to fix for years. The Bucs haven’t had a player reach 10 sacks in a single season since Shaquil Barrett in 2021; Crosby has done it in each of the past four seasons.
Seth Walder’s offer:
Why this deal makes sense: Let me start with the Raiders, who would surely bristle at the notion of trading their star within their division. But that fear is short-sighted: If you are going to trade away a star, why not take draft capital from a rival? By the time the Raiders are true contenders again, Crosby might well be slowing down while the draft picks have four cost-controlled years to play for Las Vegas — and against the Chargers.
The Chargers, with Chris O’Leary replacing Jesse Minter at defensive coordinator, could use help at edge rusher. Khalil Mack and Odafe Oweh are pending free agents, so the Chargers could use their bounty of cap space to trade for and absorb Crosby’s contract. The fact that Crosby’s deal is salary heavy (meaning the Chargers take on the money) and that he will turn 29 before next season, is why I’m not offering a first-round pick here.
Get ready for the NFL offseason
• Every team’s offseason guide | Schedule• Top free agents | Best draft prospects• 11 trade proposals | 32 big questions• QB market | Overhaul tiers | Draft order• Coach hirings | Franchise tag candidates
The verdict: Cowboys’ offer gives Raiders a WR1
Fowler’s offer (Bears) and Solak’s offer (Buccaneers) are compelling since they include wide receivers, which Walder’s proposal from the Chargers does not include. But Graziano’s offer from the Cowboys would give the Raiders a top wide receiver, assuming they lock down Pickens on a long-term deal.
Pickens turns 25 on March 4 and is coming off a career-high nine touchdowns and 1,429 receiving yards in 2025. The Raiders haven’t had a player reach that receiving mark since Davante Adams in 2022. By pairing Pickens with running back Ashton Jeanty, tight end Brock Bowers and wide receiver Tre Tucker, Mendoza could have a strong supporting cast around him in Year 1.
On top of that, they would have an extra pick at No. 20 to address needs on the defensive or offensive lines. The Raiders were 15th in run stop win rate and 17th in pass rush win rate last season; they were 22nd in both run block win rate and pass block win rate. — McFadden
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