RAVENS BACK OUT OF MAXX CROSBY TRADE OVER KNEE CONCERNS

## The Medical Examination That Changed Everything The Ravens backed out due to medical concerns that arose during a physical Tuesday night, just 24 hours before trades become official. Crosby underwent surgery on the meniscus in his left knee on Jan. 8, and Ian Rapoport reports that Baltimore did not want to invest two first-round picks given what the Ravens' medical experts found during Crosby's examination. This was not supposed to happen. The Ravens and Raiders originally agreed to a trade on March 6 that would send Crosby to Baltimore for two first-round picks, including the No. 14 overall pick in this year's NFL draft, but the trade couldn't be made official until the beginning of the new league year on Friday, March 11, at 3 p.m. CST. Crosby posted a 13-minute video on his social media accounts on Saturday, bidding farewell to Las Vegas and expressing his excitement for his new journey with the Ravens. He posted on Instagram on Tuesday that he was in Baltimore. The man was already mentally moved. ## The Numbers Behind Baltimore's Panic Maxx Crosby signed a 3 year, $106,500,000 contract with the Las Vegas Raiders, including $91,500,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $35,500,000. That makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. Crosby posted 10 sacks and a career-high 28 tackles for loss, the second-most this past season behind Defensive Player of the Year Myles Garrett. Crosby put up these numbers despite missing the final two games of the regular season after undergoing meniscus repair surgery at the start of the new year. "I played on it. As people watched, nobody knew my knee was torn. It's something that you can play with. It's just a management type deal. We knew about it all year, and so we managed, and I was able to go out there and do my thing." Crosby, 28, significantly upgrades a struggling Ravens pass rush that in 2025 totaled 30 sacks, Baltimore's fewest in 15 years. They needed him badly enough to break franchise precedent. ## The Franchise History That Makes This Brutal This marks the first time in the Ravens' 31-year existence that they have used a first-round pick to trade for a veteran player. Baltimore had never previously traded a first-round pick—let alone two—for a veteran player. The Ravens do not do this. Ever. Their entire organizational philosophy revolves around building through the draft, not buying veterans with premium picks. The Ravens are making this uncharacteristic offseason splash after a disappointing 2025 season in which they finished 8-9, failed to make the playoffs and fired longtime coach John Harbaugh. Baltimore has been looking for a game changer, such as Crosby, to get over the postseason hurdle and reach the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2012 season. That desperation led them to break character. And now it led them to break character again by walking away. Before the Ravens initially landed a trade for Crosby, the Cowboys and Jaguars were among the teams pursuing a deal for the veteran defensive end. Dallas was reportedly in it until the end, but was unwilling to give up multiple first-round picks, leading the Raiders to agree to trade Crosby to Baltimore. ## The Counterargument: Smart Business Maybe Baltimore got this exactly right. "Maxx Crosby had surgery to repair his meniscus right around the end of the season, and meniscus recoveries take 3-4 months," NFL Network's Ian Rapoport said after the news broke on Tuesday night. "… it appears the Ravens are just not comfortable with what they found during the medical exams for Maxx Crosby, so now the trade is off." Crosby's knee problems began during the 2025 season. Las Vegas finished the year with a 3–14 record, one of the worst in the league, but Crosby remained the emotional and defensive leader of the roster. Playing through injury on a historically bad team shows heart. It also shows damage accumulation. FOX Sports Insider Jordan Schultz reported an NFL general manager thinks the Ravens want to pounce on Trey Hendrickson's deflated market instead of paying the trade premium for Crosby. Translation: Baltimore might have found a cheaper path to the same result. ## The Stakes Math Going Forward The Raiders were set to meet Tuesday night to try to figure out their next steps, according to sources. It is unclear whether a Crosby trade can be revived in some form, but this puts the Raiders in a difficult situation due to all of the money they've already committed to outside free agents. The Bengals have a Maxx Crosby trade back available after the Ravens backed out of their trade with the Raiders on Tuesday. Cincinnati makes sense. Division rival leverage, playoff-ready roster, and they understand what elite pass rush looks like after watching Trey Hendrickson for years. The Ravens just proved that medical red flags can override any amount of desperation. Crosby will find another home, but Baltimore's reversal shows how quickly billion-dollar decisions can collapse under the weight of a bad knee scan.