The Baltimore Ravens have become the main characters of the NFL offseason, anti-heroes in the story of the spring.
Baltimore traded two first-round picks to the Las Vegas Raiders for edge rusher Maxx Crosby before backing out of the deal days later over medical concerns. In turn, they signed Trey Hendrickson in a legal (but rather controversial) maneuver.
That pivot has earned criticism, too, amid rumors that Hendrickson felt he’d be playing alongside Crosby, not instead of him.
Baltimore Ravens Used Maxx Crosby To Pursue Trey Hendrickson
After nixing the trade, the Ravens signed Hendrickson to a four-year, $112 million deal, ending his multi-year relationship with the Cincinnati Bengals.
The move reverberated throughout the league. The Indianapolis Colts were reported to be in on Hendrickson, and without Baltimore swooping in, were expected to put pen to paper. Others made moves to address their pass rush with the assumption that Crosby was off the board.
Now, Crosby is back in Sin City, and the Ravens got their draft capital back while signing one of the biggest fish in the edge-rusher market. As the rest of the league reacted to the chaos, Pat McAfee added to the uncertainty on his show by suggesting that Hendrickson thought he’d be pursuing the quarterback with Crosby.
“I would like to say our sources are telling us that Trey Hendrickson genuinely thought he was going to play with Maxx Crosby,” McAfee said. “Was there a ploy behind the scenes to not tell Trey or not tell Maxx, and then once you get a deal done with one or the other, then we kind of figure the whole thing out? Maybe. …
“Maybe the Ravens and [Eric] DeCosta was putting up a front about the scans and how gutted he is … People have lied into microphones before.”
Pat says Trey Hendrickson “genuinely thought he was going to play with Maxx Crosby.” 👀
(via @PatMcAfeeShow) pic.twitter.com/o9IeetspP5
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) March 12, 2026
Crosby is largely viewed as a better player than Hendrickson; he ranked second in PFSN’s NFL EDGE Impact Metric last season compared to 12th for the former Bengals star. Still, the two first-round picks and Hendrickson more than compensate for that gap in production, and they deal a blow to a division rival in the process.
It isn’t immediately clear when Hendrickson learned that Crosby wouldn’t be joining him in Baltimore, but some are concerned that the organization isn’t operating in good faith.
“But from our understanding, Trey Hendrickson definitely thought he was playing football with Maxx Crosby,” McAfee said. “And that was a huge selling point. That might have been why it was being said at the time.”
After back-to-back 17.5-sack seasons, Hendrickson was sidelined for most of 2025, ending his streak of four consecutive Pro Bowl nominations. He’s not the run defender that Crosby is, but the Ravens needed a front-line starter on the edge. However winding the path was, they accomplished that goal.
Baltimore does not play Las Vegas during the 2026 regular season.
