One of my main reasons for starting this website was to figure out if certain trades were possible. It’s one thing to say your team should get somebody or get mad when they don’t, but doing the math and seeing whether a trade is realistic is fun for me. Let’s see what we can see with this year’s latest possible future Eagle, Maxx Crosby of the Las Vegas Raiders. Granted we did this same merry-go-round with TJ Watt and twice with Myles Garrett last year, but still…
Background
Crosby was drafted by the Raiders in the 4th round in 2019 and was an immediate impact with 10 sacks, finishing 2nd in ROY voting behind Nick Bosa. After slight let downs in years 2 and 3, Crosby has been a machine making 5 Pro Bowls and finishing top 6 in DPOY votes twice. He’s racked up 69.5 sacks in 7 mostly healthy seasons and is routinely close to the league lead in tackles for loss and QB hits.
He originally signed a 4/$96m rookie extension in 2022 then reupped last year for 3/$106.5m with most of that guaranteed, $91.5m. His $35.5m AAV ranks 6th among EDGE rushers as does the guarantee albeit in less years than anyone else on the list.
Why Would the Raiders Trade Him?
Because they suck. The Raiders tried to come out of the box strong with a soft reset last year by bringing in Pete Carroll, Chip Kelly, and Geno Smith. It was a total disaster. Now they are picking first in the draft, have little talent, and need to dig in for a long summer of asset-maxxing (sorry, couldn’t help it).
Usually, the best way to do that is trading everything that is not nailed down. Unfortunately, the Raiders already barely have a foundation let alone a couch or high-priced appliances. This house needs to be taken down to the studs and that means trading Crosby. He’s like having the best dishwasher money can buy but your water has been turned off.
Cap Consequences of a Trade
Just as much as talent, cap considerations are at the forefront of every possible NFL acquisition. One of the interesting things about Crosby’s deal is that it was designed to be eventually traded. What do I mean? Not only was there no signing bonus, but the whole contract is salary.1 Essentially, the Raiders gave a bump to the last two years of his previous contract, guaranteed them, then tacked on three more years. His 2025 salary and 2026 salaries are fully guaranteed while most of his 2027 salary will guarantee this March. The final 2 years are not guaranteed and will have no dead money left on the Raiders (or anyone’s) books.
What do you need to know of this? A trade will only cost the Raiders $5m in dead cap. That was not an accident. However, a team that acquires him will have his full $30m salary to deal with. They can restructure this to a much more manageable $7m-ish cap hit, but an acquiring team would need to be able to fit that cap hit in before making the deal. The only way to get out of this would be by trading him before the league new year begins next month. If the Raiders wanted to maximize their return, they would restructure the contract first, take the full cap hit on the chin, leaving the grateful acquiring team with only the league minimum to pay.
Compensation
Before last season and without an extension in place, Micah Parsons was traded to Green Bay (a regular contender) for two 1sts and okay DT Kenny Clark. Before the deadline, Sauce Gardner was traded to Indy (contender-ish) for two 1sts and not okay WR Adonai Mitchell. There were also rumors both last season and before the deadline that Cleveland was getting offers of three 1sts for Myles Garrett, 29 at the time. While the age is right and he had also just come to a new extension, not only is Crosby a level (or more) below Garrett but we’ll never know if that bounty was ever offered. We can assume the Raiders will be looking for a Crosby haul somewhere around the prices of Micah Parsons and Sauce Gardner even if they aren’t clean comparisons.
For one, Crosby will be 29 before the season starts. Sauce was 25 when he was traded while Parsons was 26. For two, everyone in the NFL except Jerry Jones seemed to know that Parsons was about to become the highest paid non-QB in the NFL while Gardner had already received his extension to become the highest paid CB in the league.
If the Raiders decide that they do NOT want to keep any dead money on their books, they are probably looking at a 1st round pick, 3rd round pick, and an okay player. Crosby is very good, but he’s expensive, 29, and not as good as Parsons. However, if they want to MAXXimize their return by paying his 2026 salary, that changes everything. All of a sudden, a team like the Eagles would grab a #1 EDGE rusher for the league minimum! Sweet mother of mercy. That is a game changer that could rock the NFL. What would a team pay for that?
If I’m the Raiders, I am asking for those two 1sts plus a good young player and then probably extra picks too. For example, if you are the Eagles and you knew you would only have to pay Crosby for basically one season while getting him for two, would you resign Nakobe Dean then trade #23, the 2027 1st, and Jihaad Campbell? That’s very tempting. With this cap carrot presented in front of contenders, there would be a serious bidding war.
- This is the opposite of what a team like the Eagles does with its keeper players. Instead of moving as much money down the road as possible, the Raiders have maximum money to be paid and accounted for right away. ↩︎
All salary cap numbers courtesy of Spotrac. Stats courtesy of Pro Football Reference
Philly Front Office 
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