According to ESPN’s Jeremey Fowler, Maxx Crosby isn’t expected to request a trade, but it’s still not guaranteed that he will be back with the Raiders next year.
Teams are interested in trading for Crosby, and it appears the Raiders would be willing to trade Crosby for a couple of first-round picks and a player – similar to what the Cowboys got from the Packers for Micah Parsons.
Fowler said at least a dozen teams have reached out about Crosby in some capacity, and according to Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter, there is a belief around the league that Tom Brady’s former team has made the strongest offer for Crosby to this point in the process.
“Spending time with five different people… they’re all NFL people. I asked them, ‘What teams are you hearing [for Crosby]?’ Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“Everybody said they think the team that wants him the absolute most is probably the New England Patriots,” Carpenter continued. “All five said, and I want to make this abundantly clear, none of them said that Tom Brady in any way told them this, but this is based on their speculation and based on some things that they know about Mark Davis.”
“They said the Raiders would probably get the best deal from New England, but they’re not sure the optics of what it would look like if a Raiders team that is controlled by Tom Brady were to trade him to the Patriots. I thought that was interesting. To be very frank, it was not an angle that I had spent much time even remotely thinking about, and I thought that was interesting, that that’s the perception of the NFL”
Ironically, a report came out last week that the Patriots haven’t felt the Raiders were serious about trading Crosby because the asking price is too high.
According to Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald, the Patriots believe Crosby’s valuation is more like a first-round pick and “lesser assets.”
“Are the Raiders actually willing to play ball? That is the question on the minds of Patriots’ decision-makers,” Callahan reported on Saturday.
“League sources don’t believe the Raiders are serious about trading Pro Bowl defensive end Maxx Crosby, so negotiations could very well drag into the draft this April. Acquiring Crosby nonetheless feels more realistic than trading for Brown at this time, per one team source, who believes a first-round pick and other lesser assets, including one of the Patriots’ two fourth-round picks, would be fair compensation. The Raiders are reportedly seeking two first-round picks and a player.”
Crosby hasn’t spoken about what he wants, but there seems to be a consensus that the decision makers in Las Vegas will be happy to keep Crosby around if a team doesn’t offer a deal closer to what the Cowboys got for Parsons.
Most believe Crosby’s valuation will end up being closer to a first-round pick and a player, but it will be interesting to see where Crosby ends up if he wants to leave (which is not something he has said) but the Raiders aren’t interested in any offers.
x: @raidersbeat