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The Maxx Crosby trade saga could resolve itself sooner rather than later, according to Sports Illustrated insider Albert Breer. And it appears the Chicago Bears are indeed a player in the sweepstakes.
In his latest edition of MMQB, Breer outlined some notes he’d heard from people around the league, including thoughts on how the “best player available” philosophy might be even more prevalent this year with more impact players occupying non-premium positions than in years past. Among the biggest, of course, was that he believes, despite public testimony to the contrary, that Crosby won’t be a Las Vegas Raider for much longer.
“I’d lean toward a Maxx Crosby trade happening, and maybe this week,” he wrote. “But there’s going to have to be some needle-threading. I don’t think the Raiders want to go through the song-and-dance of shopping him, nor do I believe Crosby wants it advertised that he’s looking for suitors, given his bond with owner Mark Davis, and his view of himself as a Raider.
“So what would be the cleanest for everyone is for a market to emerge organically. And that could happen, given that most teams are going to start spending to their cap and cash budgets, and filling roster spots a week from now.”
We’ve already seen teams start to show their hands with cuts and trades, with the New York Jets trading for defensive tackle T’Vondre Sweat and the Cleveland Browns grabbing offensive tackle Tytus Howard from the Houston Texans. So it feels plenty possible that guys like Crosby and Philadelphia Eagles receiver A.J. Brown, who also has a lot of trade buzz surrounding him, will soon swap teams if that’s their fate. After all, teams want to know sooner rather than later what they have to buy in free agency and the draft.
“We should know soon enough which path the Raiders are taking, with teams like Dallas, Chicago, Baltimore, Buffalo, New England, Philadelphia and the Rams keeping tabs on his availability,” Breer said.
It certainly looks like the Chicago Bears are ready to throw their hat in the ring for Crosby, who could instantly elevate their roster into Super Bowl-contending status.
A few keys here: Crosby apparently has a good relationship with both general manager John Spytek and owner Mark Davis, meaning he likely doesn’t want to make this outwardly acrimonious. But the plain fact is that he wants to win, and the Raiders will likely take a few years to get into winning shape (if they get there at all),
Breer also notes the Raiders likely won’t get the monster draft capital they want in return for Crosby, who will be 29 years old when this season starts and coming off two seasons that ended early due to injury. So though they’ll want multiple first-round picks, just as the Dallas Cowboys got for Micah Parsons, it’s unlikely that it will happen due to age and health concerns.
So if the Bears could pull this trade off for, say, DJ Moore, who would help out the Raiders’ presumptive No. 1 pick Fernando Mendoza, this year’s first-round pick, and a 2027 sweetener of some kind, that would unquestionably be worth it. (At this point, it’s highly unlikely anyone the Bears would draft at No. 25 remotely comes close to the value Crosby would bring to the table.)
They certainly won’t be the only team with this idea, though. So if the Bears want to make this happen, they’d better be ready to move fast. If they were to pull this off before free agency, it could change the entirety of this offseason.