Ravens Break Their Silence on Maxx Crosby Decision
Last week, the Baltimore Ravens and the Las Vegas Raiders agreed to a blockbuster trade that would send veteran star defensive end Maxx Crosby to Baltimore in return for two first-round picks. However, the trade never happened.
In a somewhat stunning turn of events, the trade fell through after the Ravens pulled out of the trade, sending Crosby back to Vegas with the draft picks returning to Baltimore. Now, the Ravens are explaining their side of the story.
Ravens 'Backed Out' of Trade
While the two teams seemed to have an agreement in place that would send Crosby to Baltimore in return for two first-round picks, the Raiders announced on Tuesday night that the trade was off after Baltimore "backed out" of the agreement.
“The Baltimore Ravens have backed out of our trade agreement for Maxx Crosby. We will have no further comment at this time,” the Raiders announced in a short statement on Tuesday.
While the Raiders did not indicate why the deal fell through, it quickly became clear that it was related to Crosby's offseason knee surgery, which he continues to recover from.
Ravens Got 'Cold Feet'?
On Tuesday, NFL insider Dianna Russini of The Athletic reported that Crosby failed his physical exam, leading the Ravens to call off the trade. However, Russini also reported that the Ravens had "all the information" regarding Crosby's recovery and knew that he would not pass the physical before they agreed to the trade.
"It’s been made clear by multiple people around the NFL at all levels that Baltimore had all the information and understood where Maxx Crosby’s knee was in terms of his recovery timeline," Russini wrote in a post on X. "Many in the league believe GM Eric DeCosta and the Ravens ultimately just got cold feet."
Crosby's agent weighed in on the incident, making it clear that Crosby was "on track" after his knee surgery.
"Maxx continues to be on track in his recovery and if anything is ahead of schedule according to his surgeon Dr Neal El Attrache. 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," the agent wrote in a post on X.
Ravens Break Their Silence
Despite the claims that the Ravens simply got "cold feet," Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta insisted that the team was "gutted" the deal fell through.
“We were really excited about adding Maxx, potentially adding Maxx to our team,” DeCosta said via Pro Football Talk. “I had already begun discussions with John Spytek, those discussions continued, we were really thinking that we were getting some traction. We did. As part of the normal trade process, there were a lot of different parts with the trade process, we’ve done a lot of trades. One of the key things is you bring a player in and try to get as much information as you can. We were not able to complete the process of trading for the player, based on our assessment of the situation.”
Ultimately, DeCosta said, he had a "responsibility" to the team to call off the trade.
“I’ve got a responsibility to the Ravens,” DeCosta said. “I understand how people from afar would feel that way, but nobody’s more upset about this than me. Gutted by it, actually, a big regret for me.”