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(Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
The long-term future of Maxx Crosby is uncertain, given that the Las Vegas Raiders are in Year 1 of a rebuild. Nonetheless, in the short term, Crosby wants to be with the Silver and Black after the trade to the Baltimore Ravens fell through due to a failed physical.
Still, if Crosby shows in the early part of the 2026 NFL season that he’s healthy and the same disruptive player on defense that the veteran has always been, teams will again be lining up to trade for him later this year at the trade deadline.
FanSided’s Jake Beckman writes that one of the potential teams that could be pursuing Crosby once the deadline comes around, or even sooner, is the Chicago Bears.
Moreover, Beckman believes that Chicago hasn’t done enough to bolster their pass rush now that free agency and the 2026 NFL Draft have come and gone.
“Going into free agency, the Bears needed a real and dominant defensive end, and they didn’t get one,” Beckman wrote in a May 16 article. “Going into the draft, they still needed a real and dominant defensive end, and they still didn’t get one. Maxx Crosby is still out there.
“After the Ravens backed out of the trade with the Raiders, Crosby’s value plummeted into the core of the Earth. Since then, that value has gone the only way it could go: Up.
“Now, the big “reason” the Ravens said they backed out of the trade was that Crosby didn’t pass his physical. They were probably lying about that, but he did just have knee surgery, so maybe they were telling the truth.”
Maxx Crosby’s Value Should Increase After Failed Trade
While teams are taking a wait-and-see approach with Crosby, Beckman believes the Raiders star will be his disruptive self on the defensive line. As a result, teams like the Bears would need to meet the asking price that Las Vegas wants for one of the better edge rushers in the league.
“All that means is that Crosby’s value is going to skyrocket when he comes out on the field in Week 1 and gets back to his ol’ psycho-killer self,” Beckman added in his article.
“I get that teams want to wait to see if that happens, and the Raiders are probably really chill about waiting and getting a better trade package… But the sooner a team trades for Crosby, the less they’re going to have to pay for him.”
Ex-Raiders TE Darren Waller on Failed Maxx Crosby Trade
Recently, former Raiders tight end Darren Waller sympathized with Corsby, who looks like he is going to a team challenging for a playoff position this upcoming season, rather than remaining with the Raiders, a team that’s in the middle of a rebuild.
“Maybe it didn’t go the way he originally wanted, but now he gets a new start, so let’s do it,” said during the May 14 edition of “Yahoo Sports Daily.“.
“Then, for that to be completely halted and for him to go back to a team he was frustrated with, a team that had him on the trading block, that whole cycle just feels like a lot to deal with and process while still recovering from surgery, dealing with an injury and trying to get back to 100 percent.
“It’s just a lot of things to feel and sit with that are probably uncomfortable. That’s what I think about when I think about a guy I’ve spent a lot of time around and know on a deeper level.”
Eduardo Razo Eduardo Razo is a sports writer for Heavy.com, covering the NFL, MLB, and college football. He has previously covered the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB for NBC Sports Washington and NBC Sports Bay Area & California, and has freelanced for PSG Talk, covering Paris Saint-Germain. He also worked as an editor at Athlon Sports, focusing on MLB and the NFL. More about Eduardo Razo
