The Los Angeles Rams’ landing of Myles Garrett set off the usual chain reaction, and now FanSided has the Chicago Bears swooping in for Maxx Crosby with a first and a second to keep pace in the NFC. It’s a clean enough hypothetical. It also misreads where this franchise actually sits.
Here’s the part nobody wants to say out loud about a player this good: keeping Crosby might be the sentimental move rather than the smart one. He turns 29 this year, he’s coming off a meniscus repair that already spooked Baltimore into killing a done deal, and the Raiders finished 2025 with the worst record in football. None of those things point toward a defense one edge rusher away from mattering.
The November Scenario Albert Breer Keeps Coming Back To
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Maxx Crosby recommitted after the Ravens trade fell apart, and the people around the building say the recovery is going well. Albert Breer floated the November scenario where Vegas sits at 1-8, Crosby is healthy and wrecking games, and the phone starts ringing on its own. That’s the version that makes sense. Not shopping him, just answering when a contender talks itself into desperation. Nate Atkins of The Athletic has the Rams as a real possibility down the line.
The Raiders are not a team in a position to win now. Their 2026 goal should be to help Fernando Mendoza develop while simultaneously collecting assets they can use to build around their new franchise quarterback. This trade allows the Raiders to receive premium draft capital in exchange for a 28-year-old they’ve already tried to trade who likely won’t be on the next winning Raiders team anyway.
Zachary Rotman, FanSided
John Spytek and Klint Kubiak inherited a roster being rebuilt around Fernando Mendoza, and Mendoza’s development is the focus of the entire 2026 assignment. Every asset the front office can stockpile for a 2027 draft that scouts already love is an asset working toward a team that can actually compete. Crosby, as great as he is, probably isn’t on that team by the time it arrives.
So would the deal be smart? If the haul is real, yes, and the Bears’ version is close to what Baltimore was offering before the physical blew it up. The Raiders tried to move him once for football reasons. Those reasons didn’t disappear because the trade did. The medicals are the only thing standing between Crosby and a contender, and the front office should let the calls come.
Scott Gulbransen
