So much for winning the offseason.
After a dreadful, stink-and-tank campaign that landed them the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, the Las Vegas Raiders had finally generated some positive vibes over the past four weeks.
With a promising new coach in Klint Kubiak, a potential franchise quarterback (presumptive No. 1 selection Fernando Mendoza) on the way and a bountiful free-agent haul headlined by Pro Bowl center Tyler Linderbaum, the Raiders were feeling pretty, pretty good about their future.
It was a new day in Raider Nation. The sun was out, the birds were singing and every hand was coming up blackjack.
The Raiders had even recovered nicely from an unwanted gut punch, working out a trade that sent their disgruntled star pass rusher, Maxx Crosby, to the Baltimore Ravens for a pair of first-round draft picks.
By all indications, the Silver and Black were baaaaaaaaack.
Then came one of the most shocking developments in NFL transactional history: Tuesday’s news that the Ravens, citing a failed physical by Crosby, backed out of the trade, which couldn’t have become official until the start of the league year Wednesday afternoon.
This wasn’t a gut punch; this was a blindside blow to the ribs that inflicted debilitating damage — and pain that will reverberate for weeks and months to come.
The Raiders now enter the new league year with a significantly reduced hand, either needing to find another trade partner (while possessing far less leverage) or to try to persuade Crosby to change his mind and return for an eighth season with the franchise.
In any case, as Jerry Garcia once sang, those two first-round picks (No. 14 this year and one in 2027) are gone, gone, and nothing’s gonna bring them back.
There’s no way to portray this as anything but a lousy development for the Raiders, whose powers-that-be are understandably furious about the deal’s collapse. To owner Mark Davis, this is undoubtedly another instance of the franchise getting shafted, a sentiment he felt after leaked emails led to then-coach Jon Gruden’s resignation during the 2021 season. He inherited the persecution complex from his legendary father, Al, whose paranoia matched his football acumen.
In this instance, the Raiders did get screwed. Whether that simply stemmed from bad luck — or because of bad intentions on the Ravens’ part — remains unclear.
In the end, it doesn’t really matter. The Ravens were within their rights to kill the deal, because in the eyes of the NFL, it hadn’t actually been consummated. The Raiders thus have no recourse, and no way to recreate the value that interested teams (including the Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots and Chicago Bears) had assigned to Crosby before all hell broke loose Tuesday afternoon.
Let’s break it all down and assess the fallout.
Almost all NFL trades and signings are contingent upon the player or players in question passing a physical. Each team has its own standard and filters results through its own risk-assessment lens. It’s quite possible that an examination and accompanying test results that scare off one franchise would be viewed as palatable by another, depending upon the trade compensation and money in the equation.
It’s not inconceivable that the Ravens would balk at completing the trade for Crosby, who is two months removed from surgery to repair the meniscus in his left knee, suggesting possible cartilage damage that in some cases has been known to shorten a player’s career. However, many NFL players facing similar circumstances continue to play at a high level for prolonged periods; each case is its own, unique entity.
On Tuesday night, Crosby’s agent, C.J. LaBoy, released a statement insisting that “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.”
Did the Ravens conclude otherwise, or at least question Crosby’s staying power?
Quite possibly.
Did they simply have buyer’s remorse and use the failed physical as an excuse to back out of the deal? Did they have eyes for the still-unsigned Trey Hendrickson, whose cost wouldn’t include any draft picks? Were they less motivated to consummate the trade because of ill feelings toward the Raiders for poaching Linderbaum, and jacking up the market for centers by a reported 50 percent in the process?
If so, we may never know.
Know this, however: Even if we were able to find out conclusively that the Ravens backed out for those reasons, the Raiders would be powerless. Baltimore technically was allowed to do so, because no actual trade had been completed.
There will be no day of reckoning; only regret.
It’s not as if the rest of the league would blackball the Ravens over such a transgression, even if proven. If anything, the teams that ultimately try to trade for Crosby may thank Baltimore — for creating a state of affairs that substantially reduces the price.
So what now? Theoretically, the Raiders could resume trade talks with the Ravens, albeit at a lower price point. Realistically, given the way this played out for Las Vegas — and the accompanying hard feelings — that’s highly unlikely.
The Raiders aren’t in a great spot, but their best play is to ignore the compulsion to wallow in victimhood and try to make the best of a bad situation. If they can’t convince Crosby to come back, the smart move will be to cut their losses and try to get what they can for him.
“I don’t know what they do now,” said one high-ranking executive for a team that previously talked to the Raiders about potentially acquiring Crosby. “I don’t know how they walk it back. There’s no way to spin it positively. This is really bad for them.”
Presumably, another team could assess Crosby’s knee and, unlike Baltimore, decide trading for him is worth the risk.
“They won’t get two 1s, though,” said the executive, who speculated that teams might offer conditional picks — for example, a future first-round selection that becomes a third-rounder if Crosby’s knee causes him to miss a certain number of games in 2026.
Finding that sweet spot will be tricky, because a potential deal now carries a glaring “buyer beware” warning. Imagine being the general manager who, after Tuesday’s news, decides to gamble on a Crosby trade, only to have the player be significantly debilitated by the knee and never come close to regaining his Pro Bowl form.
“If that happens,” the executive said, “you’re done.”
The Cowboys, as my colleague Dianna Russini reported Tuesday night, are not expected to re-engage in trade discussions for Crosby. That’s not a great sign for a Raiders franchise that had finally begun to give its famished fans some legitimate hope of better days to come.
Once the shock of Tuesday’s fiasco wears off, will the positive vibes return? The season opener is still six months away, and Las Vegas may well win more than three games in 2026.
Ideally, the Raiders will make incremental progress and forge a brighter future for a franchise that has made only two postseason appearances — and won zero playoff games — since 2002.
In the end, winning football games would heal a lot of scars, even one as nasty and unforeseen as the blemish created by this blindside blow.
In the meantime, after a charmed offseason, the Raiders are going to have to take the L and try to move forward.