The Scouting Combine is winding down now. The halls of the event often feature the biggest news because that’s where coaches and front office people from all 32 NFL teams tend to get into some interesting conversations regarding players currently on their team. No player on any team is hotter than Las Vegas Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby.
The NFL cycle never sleeps. Even with the combine wrapping up, teams are turning right around and preparing for the start of the league year which means free agency and trades. While the league year opens in about ten days, all the deal will be struck during the negotiating period which is a week from today. That also means trade deals will happen ahead of that.
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NFL media’s Tom Pelissero discussed this on Rich Eisen’s show Monday, where he noted that if the Raiders are to trade Maxx Crosby, not only would it most likely happen this week, but there is one team that would make the most sense — the Dallas Cowboys.
As Pelissero points out, the Cowboys have a couple first round picks, including the 12th overall pick, which would probably be the highest pick the Raiders could expect to receive for Crosby.
The Cowboys interest in Crosby is not new. They were reportedly inquiring about Crosby as far back as last October, after Jerry Jones sent Micah Parsons to the Packers for a couple first round picks and DL Kenny Clark.
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At that time, the Raiders probably laughed at the idea of such a trade. And even now GM John Spytek has said he wants to keep Crosby and expects him to be on the team next year. But the problem is — and has been since the end of the season — where Crosby stands on this. He keeps refusing to make his position clear, while saying everyone knows where he stands. Thing is though, no one really knows but Maxx. And maybe Jay Glazer who has said Crosby is done with the Raiders.
For the Cowboys part, there is every reason to believe Jerry Jones would still be interested. The two things Jerry Jones said during Parsons’ holdout and after the team traded him away is that Jones offered to make Parsons the highest paid EDGE in the NFL and he isn’t great against the run. Well, Crosby is. In fact, he is arguably the best run stopping edge rusher in the league and last his contract matches the numbers Jones said he had offered Parsons.
Crosby is also from Texas and trains there in the offseason.
So, yeah, you can see the draw here for both sides. And I don’t see Crosby as the type who would hold out if he doesn’t get traded, so Jones knows he won’t be able to lowball the Raiders just because Crosby might still be upset. You’d have to figure either their high first and another high draft pick for Crosby or perhaps two firsts with the Raiders sending a pick along with Crosby would get this kind of a deal done.
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Then the Cowboys get a proven player to try and make a push right now and the Raiders get more draft capital along with this year’s top drafted QB in order to rebuild.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Report: Raiders could trade Maxx Crosby this week with one strong suitor