“I learned a long time ago: always listen. I’m always listening.”
That is Raiders general manager John Spytek at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine Tuesday, answering a direct question about whether Maxx Crosby is untradable. He would not say yes. He said he’s always listening. And then in the same breath, he said he expects Crosby to be in Las Vegas next season.
Both statements are true. Neither one cancels the other out. And the NFL noticed.
What Spytek Actually Said and What It Means
Spytek was direct about where he stands on Crosby’s value. “Maxx is an elite player and I’ve been very upfront from the start when I got here that we’re in the business of having really good players on the team, and we need a lot more of them,” he said at the Indianapolis Convention Center. “It’s hard to build a great team without elite players.”
He described his relationship with the 28-year-old as “great,” pointed to frequent phone calls and texts, and said he is “comfortable” in his belief that Crosby wants to stay with the franchise. But when asked directly whether Crosby was untradable, he declined to answer in the affirmative. “I learned a long time ago: always listen. I’m always listening,” Spytek said.
That is not the language of a team that has locked its best player in. That is the language of a front office that knows what it has, knows what it might be able to get, and is not about to close a door it may want to walk through.
The backdrop matters. Crosby, who signed a three-year, $106.5 million extension with the Raiders in 2025, was shut down early during the season against his will. Fox Sports’ Jay Glazer reported he believes Crosby’s time with the franchise is over. Albert Breer of The MMQB reported the conflict extends to the highest levels of the organization, involving Tom Brady and his associate Alex Guerrero, with significant fence-mending required.
Crosby has not requested a trade publicly. But he has made clear what drives him. “I have a lot of goals, but I do want to win,” he said on the “Let’s Go!” podcast. The Raiders have given him one winning season in seven years together.
What Crosby Is Worth and Who Is Watching
If the Raiders are genuinely open to moving him, the market would be substantial. Crosby has played more snaps than any defensive lineman in the NFL while accumulating 69.5 career sacks, 133 tackles for loss, the most among all defensive linemen, and 164 QB hits.
He has five Pro Bowl selections and has posted double-digit sacks in multiple seasons, including a career-high 14.5 in 2023 and 10 in 2025.
A trade package would likely start at two first-round picks and a player, comparable to what the Dallas Cowboys received for Micah Parsons. Depending on how motivated Las Vegas becomes, the asking price could go higher.
The New England Patriots have been identified as a team monitoring the situation. With Mike Vrabel now running the program in New England and a front office that has made clear it will spend to accelerate the rebuild, adding a pass rusher of Crosby’s caliber fits the profile of exactly what they are looking to do.
Spytek says he expects Crosby to stay. He also says he’s always listening. In Indianapolis this week, those two sentences together are the only answer anyone needed to hear.
