Exclusive: NFL insider Jason La Canfora on why Maxx Crosby’s trade never happened

Controversy continues to reign over Maxx Crosby’s failed blockbuster trade to the Baltimore Ravens.

A blame-game continues, which escalated from private to public proportions when Crosby himself gave an extraordinary interview on a podcast recently, suggesting that he was “angry and confused” over the situation.

Former CBS journalist and NFL insider, Jason La Canfora, sat down with us to discuss what really went down between Baltimore and Las Vegas.

La Canfora: Raiders “not without fault” for Crosby trade collapse

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, said La Canfora.

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.

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.

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.

A combination of ‘cold feet’ and ‘total bull***’ 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.

“You have to know who you’re dealing with,’ said one NFL general manager who was pursuing Crosby as well.

The NFL GM continued: “Those 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’re 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’s not like it’s out of character.”

This sentiment was echoed resoundingly, putting the Raiders front office – led by Tom Brady, new to this sort of ownership role, and inexperienced general manager John Spytek – under scrutiny as well.

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.

What should the Raiders have done differently?

“They were naïve about how they handed this,” said a contract negotiator for another NFL team. “The 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.”

A second general manager said: “It’s easy to say after the fact, and I really feel bad for John, because I know he was blindsided … But giving them that much time to sit on this thing was a bad idea. Five days or whatever it was, that’s way too long.” 

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.

The league’s 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’t 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.

“Get the (heck) out of here,” the first general manager said. “They are so full of s***.”

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’s timeline, and Crosby recommitted to the Raiders after privately seeking a trade early this offseason, which kicked off this sweepstakes in the first place.

“I have to give them a lot of credit,” the negotiator said. “They took the high road and come out of this looking great. Crosby is an animal. Watch, he’s going to have his best season. He’ll use this as motivation.”

Crosby has spent his entire career with the Raiders, and now, thanks at least in part to the actions of two front offices, that’s likely to remain the case for at least another year.

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.

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 – Kirk Cousins is one name to watch – and it might be worth a sprinkle to look at Crosby to win the Defensive Player of the Year (+700, DraftKings).

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