Maxx Crosby will play for the Baltimore Ravens in 2026, and it cost the franchise more than it has ever spent to acquire a veteran player. The Raiders are sending their five-time Pro Bowl edge rusher to Baltimore for first-round picks in 2026 and 2027, the first time the Ravens have traded a first-round pick for a veteran in franchise history.
The deal becomes official on March 11. What it doesn’t capture is how long and how painfully this ending was in the making.
Antonio Pierce’s Tenure Made Maxx Crosby’s Exit Inevitable
The fracture between Crosby and the Raiders organization didn’t start with the 2025 shutdown. In January 2024, Crosby appeared on his podcast, “The Rush,” and made his position on Antonio Pierce unmistakably clear. He pressured the franchise into hiring Pierce, or he hinted at exploring a trade.
Owner Mark Davis did hire Pierce, but the relationship between owner and cornerstone player had already begun to strain before Pierce coached a single regular-season game in his permanent role.
“Davis would have likely given Pierce the full-time bump anyway, but he didn’t appreciate when Crosby made thinly veiled threats on his podcast that he might ask for a trade if Pierce wasn’t named head coach,” wrote the Raiders insider Vic Tafur, via the Athletic.
“Davis didn’t speak to Crosby for months after that,” Tafur added. “Worse, Pierce was ill-prepared for the permanent job of managing a team and had a falling-out with star receiver Davante Adams as the Raiders lost 12 of their first 14 games.”
Pierce’s interim run in 2023 had been genuinely compelling. He took over from Josh McDaniels on Halloween, went 5-4 to close the season, including a 63-21 demolition of the Chargers, and galvanized a locker room that had tuned out his predecessor. Crosby and Adams were loud advocates. Davis listened, officially naming Pierce the 23rd head coach in franchise history in January 2024.
What followed was a 4-13 season with a 10-game losing streak, the franchise’s longest since 2014. Pierce burned through the quarterback position, Gardner Minshew, Aidan O’Connell, Desmond Ridder, and fired offensive coordinator Luke Getsy after nine games.
The Raiders finished last in the AFC West and last in rushing yards despite Pierce’s preseason promise of a punishing ground game. Davis fired Pierce on Jan. 7, 2025, leaving him with a 9-17 overall record.
Crosby put his head down after Pierce’s dismissal, posted elite numbers in 2025 for a 3-14 team, and watched the Raiders shut him down for the final two games of the regular season to protect their shot at the No. 1 pick. He left the facility immediately after hearing the decision.
Crosby gave Las Vegas everything he had, even after years of losing. He came out the other side still playing at an All-Pro level. The Ravens are betting two first-rounders that that edge translates to a Super Bowl run.
Why Crosby Landed in Baltimore
New Ravens head coach Jesse Minter inherits a defense that generated just 30 sacks in 2025, the fewest in Baltimore in 15 years. The Ravens finished 8-9, missed the playoffs, and fired John Harbaugh after 18 seasons.
According to PFSN’s Defense Impact Metric, Baltimore’s defense was ranked 18th in the league last season. Crosby, 28, is the kind of acquisition that resets those expectations immediately.
He recorded 10 sacks and a career-high 28 tackles for loss in 15 games last season while playing for the worst team in the NFL. He’s led the league in tackles for loss twice, in 2022 and 2023, and has 69.5 career sacks since the then-Oakland Raiders drafted him in the fourth round out of Eastern Michigan in 2019.
Maxx Crosby’s average PFSN EDGE Impact grade since 2021:
📊 95.5
The new Ravens edge rusher over that span, per TruMedia:
😤 52.5 sacks
😤 383 pressures
😤 133 QB hits
😤 14.1% pressure rate
😤 103 tackles for loss pic.twitter.com/bsrfuKy5HH— PFSN (@PFSN365) March 7, 2026
Paired with Roquan Smith and Kyle Hamilton, and a potentially returning Nnamdi Madubuike, Crosby gives Minter a pass-rush weapon that changes how opposing offenses construct game plans. In Baltimore, with Lamar Jackson running a two-time MVP offense on the other side, that kind of individual dominance finally gets maximized.
The Ravens beat out the Cowboys, who offered a first and a second, by going to two firsts. Baltimore gets the most decorated pass rusher it’s had since Terrell Suggs.
Las Vegas gets the No. 14 pick in April’s draft, a 2027 first, and a clean slate under Klint Kubiak with roughly $127 million in cap space and the No. 1 overall pick likely to land Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
