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] better be career-threatening, otherwise you don’t do this,” one NFL executive told our Ralph Vacchiano shortly after the Ravens decided to nix the trade. “They knew something was wrong with his knee. He just had surgery to get it fixed. It really feels like they had some other reason for wanting out of this deal.”
People close to Crosby also came to his defense shortly after Baltimore opted not to go through with the trade.
“Maxx continues to be on track in his recovery and if anything is ahead of schedule according to his surgeon Dr Neal El Attrache,” Crosby’s agent, CJ Labot, wrote in a social media post. “Maxx remains on track to return during the offseason program & will undoubtedly return as the dominant game wrecker he has been these past 7 seasons.”
“Maxx Crosby is doing very well in the early part of his rehab and recovery from surgery to treat a significant meniscus tear and the related stress injury to the bone and cartilage in his knee. He is certainly on track in his planned program….he feels very well and is already much improved compared to before surgery,” Dr. Neal ElAttrache added in a statement to ESPN.
While the Raiders are holding onto Crosby for the time being, the Ravens were able to pivot and add an impact edge rusher this offseason. They agreed to a four-year deal with star edge Trey Hendrickson a day after it was announced that they were pulling out of the Crosby trade.