{"id":630,"date":"2026-03-19T14:36:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T15:36:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/?p=630"},"modified":"2026-03-25T13:28:01","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T13:28:01","slug":"jason-la-canfora-why-the-raiders-arent-blameless-in-maxx-crosby-trade-saga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/19\/jason-la-canfora-why-the-raiders-arent-blameless-in-maxx-crosby-trade-saga\/","title":{"rendered":"Jason La Canfora: Why the Raiders aren\u2019t blameless in Maxx Crosby trade saga"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>Former CBS writer Jason La Canfora spoke exclusively to casino.org<\/li>\n<li>Per one NFL GM: &#8220;The agents knew there was a chance Baltimore would pull out of this thing.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>A negotiator for another NFL team said: &#8220;They were naive about how they handled this.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Baltimore Ravens have been excoriated throughout the NFL for pulling out of a verbally-agreed-to trade with the Las Vegas Raiders for superstar pass rusher Maxx Crosby.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_371688\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-371688\" data-style=\"width: 858px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-post-thumbnail-858xAUTO wp-image-371688 lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" alt=\"\" width=\"858\" height=\"572\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Maxx-Crosby-Las-Vegas-Raiders-NFL-858x572-1.jpg\"><figcaption>LAS VEGAS, NEVADA &#8211; DECEMBER 7: Maxx Crosby #98 of the Las Vegas Raiders stretches on the field prior to an NFL football game against the Denver Broncos at Allegiant Stadium on December 07, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Brooke Sutton\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Far less attention has been paid to the Raiders role in the debacle, but that franchise is not without fault as well, according to numerous NFL general managers and personnel executives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Ravens used a failed physical allegation to rebuff the deal with Las Vegas that would have sent two picks for the disgruntled future Hall of Famer, however Crosby was coming off a January knee surgery and every team that was interested in him knew the physical would involve projections.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Multiple general managers and top execs told me they strongly believed the Ravens, after losing a bevvy of core players early in free agency, and finding the market for pass rusher Trey Hendrickson softer than some expected, simply pivoted to the cheaper alternative and used the medicals as an excuse.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A combination of \u2018cold feet\u2019 and \u2018total bull***\u2019 is how the industry viewed the Ravens actions, but it hardly came as a surprise to many of them, and, those execs believe, should not have shocked the Raiders, either.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cYou have to know who you\u2019re dealing with,\u2019 said one NFL general manager who was pursuing Crosby as well.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The NFL GM continued: \u201cThose guys have used the physical to get out of deals before. They had never traded a one (first-round pick) for a player, ever, and now they\u2019re going to trade two for a 29-year-old coming off surgery? The agents knew there was a chance Baltimore would pull out of this thing. It\u2019s not like it\u2019s out of character.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This sentiment was echoed resoundingly, putting the Raiders front office \u2013 led by Tom Brady, new to this sort of ownership role, and inexperienced general manager John Spytek \u2013 under scrutiny as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Ravens maintain they were operating on the Raiders timeline about how and when they could thoroughly evaluate Crosby. But the larger reality, according to several execs who have been involved in tricky negotiations with players coming off injuries prior to the start of the league year (when NFL transactions become official), there were some obvious precautions a more grizzled football operation would have demanded as conditions to a trade of this scale and with this much potential for implosion.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>What should the Raiders have done differently?<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThey were na\u00efve about how they handled this,\u201d said a contract negotiator for another NFL team. \u201cThe Ravens have a reputation. You either tell them that they have to do the deal not contingent on a physical, because there is no way he is being cleared for football activities in March, or you give them 48 hours to evaluate the player, and you make sure you get closure on that before they can get cold feet, or pivot to an alternative.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A second general manager said: \u201cIt\u2019s easy to say after the fact, and I really feel bad for John, because I know he was blindsided \u2026 But giving them that much time to sit on this thing was a bad idea. Five days or whatever it was, that\u2019s way too long.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In this instance, the Ravens were clearly at or near the fore in teams pursuing Crosby by Thursday, the deal was agreed to on Friday and Crosby did not undergo his full battery of tests until Tuesday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The league\u2019s negotiating window with free agents had opened on Monday, free-agent deals were already being agreed to with players around the league and the Ravens were able to begin getting a firm grasp of what it would take to sign Hendrickson, and they wouldn\u2019t have to part with any cherished draft picks to sign him. As to the idea, floated by Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta last week that Baltimore was interested in signing Hendrickson and landing Crosby, well, the league finds that even far less believable than the idea the Crosby deal died because of his knee.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cGet the (heck) out of here,\u201d the first general manager said. \u201cThey are so full of s***.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Crosby and his representation, as angered as they were by the Ravens handling of this situation, earned rave reviews for their public stance on the matter. Agent CJ LaBoy issues a statement clarifying Crosby\u2019s timeline, and Crosby recommitted to the Raiders after privately seeking a trade early this offseason, which kicked off this sweepstakes in the first place.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cI have to give them a lot of credit,\u201d the negotiator said. \u201cThey took the high road and come out of this looking great. Crosby is an animal. Watch, he\u2019s going to have his best season. He\u2019ll use this as motivation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Crosby has spent his entire career with the Raiders, and now, thanks at least in part to the actions of two front offices, that\u2019s likely to remain the case for at least another year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">He continues to make social media posts alluding to the fuel this trade debacle has provided for him, and, for the first time in a long time, rival general managers are raving about the Raiders early returns in free agency and there might actually be a much better roster around Crosby than he is accustomed to.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Expect the Raiders to land a veteran quarterback for further stability and to buy time for presumptive first overall pick Fernando Mendoza (Indiana quarterback) to develop \u2013 Kirk Cousins is one name to watch \u2013 and it might be worth a sprinkle to look at Crosby to win the Defensive Player of the Year (+700, DraftKings).<\/span><\/p>\n<p>The post <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/jason-la-canfora-why-the-raiders-arent-blameless-in-maxx-crosby-trade-saga\/\">Jason La Canfora: Why the Raiders aren&#8217;t blameless in Maxx Crosby trade saga<\/a> appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\">Casino.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former CBS writer Jason La Canfora spoke exclusively to casino.org Per one NFL GM: &#8220;The agents knew there was a chance Baltimore would pull out of this thing.&#8221; A negotiator for another NFL team said: &#8220;They were naive about how they handled this.&#8221; The Baltimore Ravens have been excoriated throughout the NFL for pulling out&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":633,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630\/revisions\/633"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cerulepillar.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}