Why Ravens Reportedly Pulled out of Maxx Crosby Trade with Raiders

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."

While the Ravens might have felt like they