Exploring Trade Possibilities for the Raiders Franchise Pass Rusher
Maxx Crosby has consistently been the best player on a disappointing Raiders team. Las Vegas’ defensive star has stayed loyal throughout his tumultuous time in Las Vegas. The Raiders have failed to put together a contending team around the elite pass rusher, with multiple blunders in both the draft and free agency. Finally, everything came to a head this year in 2025, after the Raiders shut down Crosby after 15 games, which he was not a fan of. The Raiders have publicly stated both the asking price for their franchise edge rusher and that they have no intention of trading him away. As far as what is going to happen? Well, we’ll see. In the meantime, we can break down the framework of a trade and who is actually in a position to make the trade happen.
The Performance Worthy of a Big Payday
I don’t need to spend too much time talking about Crosby’s performance. I’ll briefly dive into what he accomplished in 2025 alone. The Raiders had 37 sacks across the defense, with Crosby recording 10, ranking 16th among all league defenders. He had 58 stops, tying him with Cameron Heyward for 28th across all defenders, and first amongst all defensive linemen. Finally, to cap off his impressive stat line, he has 73 tackles, second among defensive linemen, and 46 quarterback pressures. All of this in 15 games. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that if he plays the last games of the season, he would have placed even higher.
In March of 2025, the Raiders and Crosby signed an extension locking him up until 2029. The extension is for $106.5 million over four years, with $62 million fully guaranteed. The extension raised his base salary for 2025 and 2026 to $32 million and $30 million, respectively. Currently, his 2027 salary is only an injury guarantee but will become fully guaranteed on the third league day of 2026, which is rapidly approaching. The Raiders are in a great position, cap-wise. As of today, they have $87 million in cap space. The former Eagle’s contract has him at a $35 million cap hit unless they trade him; otherwise, it would be only five million from his signing bonus in 2022. Should the Raiders keep their best player, what are their outcomes in 2028, when they can offload him from the roster without a dead cap hit? Including 2026, he still has four years left on his contract.
Teams Unlikely to Make a Trade Move
The Raiders made their asking price for Crosby known: two first-round picks and a young, impactful player. A couple of teams can be eliminated from the race immediately. First, the Packers, who just locked up Micah Parsons last season. The 49ers, Texans, Jaguars, Giants, Browns, Broncos, Steelers, and Rams all already have elite pass-rushers. Any of these teams still has a chance to make a move. As of right now, teams that can’t afford his impending $30 million cap hit are the Vikings, Saints, Bears, Chiefs, Bills, Dolphins, Eagles, Panthers, Buccaneers, Ravens, and Falcons. I left out the previously mentioned teams, and since this is before June 1st, any team's cap situation can change at any moment. Next, we can eliminate the Colts; they traded for Sauce Gardner before the 2025 trade deadline, sending both their 2026 and 2027 first-round picks in exchange. The Falcons recently spent two first-round picks in the 2025 draft on pass rushers, eliminating them from the sweepstakes, even though certain recent events have changed the team's trajectory. The Titans, Jets, and Cardinals all headed for or are already in rebuilds; they will need all the picks and young impact players they can get. Of course, all of this is subject to change pending June first and whatever else one of these teams may be cooking up.
Teams Positioned to Make a Trade Move
Now that we’ve eliminated a large portion of the league, we can begin to narrow down the list of possible trade candidates. There is one exception that I have intentionally left out of the previous requirements: the Cowboys. Besides the Cowboys, we have the Commanders, Chargers, Bengals, and Patriots. Now we can break down each team's circumstances and what a trade would look like for them.
We’ll start with the sole exception to my logic, the Cowboys. The Cowboys traded away their All-Pro pass rusher in Parsons before the 2025 season. In the trade, they got back two first-round picks and Kenny Clark. Without Parsons, the defense suffered, and the Cowboys became one of the league's worst defensive units. They made a move before the trade deadline, sending one of their 2027 first-round picks to the Jets for Quinnen Williams to bolster their defensive line. Still, the Cowboys have three first-round picks, two this year, and one next year. The biggest issue the Cowboys face is that they are $58 million over the cap, or at least it was until yesterday. The Cowboys restructured three of their biggest contracts, freeing up a reported $66 million in cap space. Even with their first big push to free up cap , this puts around $10 million under the cap. The Cowboys are in a win-now window, and owner general manager Jerry Jones has recently stated that he intends to spend big in free agency. The Cowboys still have more options to clear up more cap space, but where they are heading with the extra room remains unclear. I can’t see many players that the Cowboys could move to appease the Raiders. Heading into a win-now window limits the players the Cowboys would be willing to move. The only player I could see moving would be DaRon Bland, but the Cowboys' secondary was one of the league’s weakest units in 2025. It would be hard to see them moving off Bland while they want to compete, although the draft could change Bland’s position on the team. While they are almost in a prime position to trade for Crosby, they still have other massive holes on the defense that they need to fill.
The Commanders had high hopes coming into 2025 after reaching the NFC Championship game in 2024. Unfortunately, their season fell apart rather quickly. Major injuries to key positions on both sides of the ball drastically altered their season, resulting in a 5-12 record. The Commanders are in a weird position, particularly with their defense. Their best defensive players were older veterans who signed short-term deals; now they are free agents, leaving them with lots of cap space. The worst part is that they have a superstar quarterback on a rookie contract, giving them an effective window before they have to pay him a massive contract. To somehow make matters even worse, they have another wave of veterans and key defensive players slated to be free agents in 2027. There is a world where they make a play for Crosby, allowing them to lock up an elite pass rusher through 2029, at least before an extension or a re-signing. They have first-round picks in 2026 and 2027, with the cap space to obtain the Raiders’ most valuable defender and make free agent signings. The only issue with a Crosby trade is that the offense is also aging outside of the quarterback. The team is lacking talent at skill positions outside of franchise receiver Terry McLaurin. They traded for Deebo Samuel in 2025, who led the team in receiving, and is now a free agent. Their offensive line should be shored up for at least the upcoming season. The Commanders are headed towards a roster rebuild, but with their quarterback on his rookie contract, their window to compete is slim. With an older roster, the majority of which are headed for free agency next, there are few players that the Raiders would want in return. Realistically, keeping their first-round picks is the right move. They can draft young impact players who can develop alongside Jayden Daniels.
The Chargers might be a prime candidate to trade for Crosby. The Chargers are coming off what would be considered a bad season for them, but it is a good season overall. Despite losing both of their starting tackles, they made the playoffs but disappointed in their playoff run. The Chargers' biggest improvement was on defense. Under head coach Jon Harbaugh, they ranked fifth in yards given up per game. A drastic turn around from their mediocre defenses in recent history. The Charges have a first-round pick in 2026 and 2027, with a relatively young roster. They are picking later in the first round at the 22nd pick and should have another late-round draft pick on the assumption they will be in the playoffs next year. With $84 million in cap space, they are poised to be big spenders in free agency, which could make it easy for them to part with their first-round picks. The only players I could see that would interest the Raiders are Tuli Tuipulotu or Daiyan Henely. Both players would be hard to move because they are young, productive players on great contracts. Both players will likely be searching for new contracts at some point this season or next as they are headed towards free agency in 2027. Tuipulotu would be the prime candidate, as you would replace his production, but with 13 sacks at 24 and only a six-million cap hit, you’d be hard-pressed to move him. The Chargers are already in one of the best positions in the league, so it’s hard to see a future where they trade for Crosby, not to mention they are division rivals, making a trade even more far-fetched.
The Bengals have been chasing the glory they had in 2022, when they made a Super Bowl appearance. Two of the biggest knocks against the Bengals have always been their offensive line and lackluster defense. To make things even worse, star quarterback Joe Burrow has sustained injuries in the past two seasons, ending their seasons early. Despite their defensive concerns, they let the 2024 sack leader, Trey Hendrickson, walk after they failed to strike a deal in 2025. Hendrickson wants to be paid on the same terms as Crosby, making the trade implausible. The Raiders’ defensive cornerstone is younger than Hendrickson but not by much, and he would cost more than Hendrickson did in 2025. I can’t see a world where they trade for Crosby after letting Hendrickson walk.
Finally, we have the reigning AFC Champions, the Patriots. The Patriots have a lot of great young players still on rookie contracts, primarily breakout star quarterback Drake Maye. They are in a prime position to acquire Crosby, with first-round picks in 2026 and 2027, along with $35 million in cap space. If they were to acquire him, it would be a rich-get-richer situation. The biggest argument against trading for the Raiders’ defensive star would be that they already have talent locked up. Milton Williams and Harold Landry are on the hook until 2029 and were both key pieces of the Patriots' defense. Another obstacle is K’Lavon Chaisson, the other key piece of the pass rush in 2025. Chaisson is hitting free agency but has expressed his desire to stay with the Patriots. The Patriots also have other areas they want to address, potentially leaving the pass rush to the draft. The likelihood of the Patriots making a move to acquire the Raiders’ defensive anchor seems to be very low. The Patriots are looking to build off their surprising Super Bowl run season. Regression is sure to hit the Patriots as they are in for a more challenging schedule in 2026.
Conclusion
As of right now, I think the Cowboys are the most likely to trade for Crosby, as he seems like a perfect fit for their 2026 plan. They have been one of the most consistent teams linked to a trade with the Raiders. I’m sure at least three of the teams that I ruled out earlier are in the sweepstakes, but it’s hard to tell as of right now. A lot will change when free agency starts, and then change again after the draft.
