Maxx Crosby trade is 'win-win' for Ravens and Raiders

Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Jason Fitz react to the Las vegas Raiders trading Maxx Crosby to the Baltimore Ravens for two first round draft picks. Watch the full episode of Yahoo Sports Daily on YouTube or YahooSports.TV.

Video Transcript

Maxx Crosby, whose jersey is still hanging right up behind me, is no longer a member of my beloved Raiders, instead headed to Baltimore in exchange for two first-round picks.

What do you think?

You’ve had some time to live in this, transaction, Caroline.

How do we feel about it?

Yes.

Yes, the Raiders get two first-round picks, and yes, the Raiders are more concerned about winning over the next three to five years versus winning in 2026.

The Raiders are in a rebuild.

They just hired a new coach.

They’re gonna be drafting their quarterback of the future.

Those are valuable assets that they’ll be able to use to build their team moving forward.

But I’m of the belief, I don’t think it’s a very hot take, Fitz, that you don’t get better by trading away good players.

The Raiders are not better off today than they were on Thursday afternoon.

You don’t lose a player who has an impact on the field, who is a figurehead, a face of the organization off the field, and feel like you’re in a better place, whether as a team as currently constructed or as an organization.

I have said, and I will always say, not just for the Raiders with Fernando Mendoza, but any team with any young quarterback, that your number one priority should be putting the right people and right tools in place around that quarterback to foster a healthy environment on and off the field.

I was on record before he ever got traded saying that I thought it would be a win-win either way.

because- Mm-hmm frankly, you, you win when you have Maxx Crosby on the field.

That being said, I think what’s happened right now is the Raiders have sent a very clear and poignant statement.

I think the Raiders have told the entire world that they’ve finally looked at the roster, and they’ve said, “Hey, we need a full, complete rebuild.”

What they’re telling you when they let Maxx Crosby go for two first-rounders is that they acknowledge that even with Max, they’re not gonna win football games.

I think what we’re seeing now, and this matches some of the tone of the reporting coming out of Indianapolis and the scouting combine where multiple reporters have made it clear that John Spytek, the GM of the Raiders, has said that it’s, it’s sobering to look at where this roster is right now.

I think what the Raiders have finally done is looked around and said, “Hey, we’re not good, and we’re not going to be good for the next several years.”

This, to me, is a statement that they understood looking around, even with Max, they weren’t gonna win enough games to make it worth Max until at least three years from now.

Doesn’t feel good, but I think that’s why it was the right answer for the Raiders.

for the Ravens, I have no questions here.

I, I mean, Baltimore is acquiring one of the best players, defensive players in the league.

They’re acquiring a superstar.

They’re acquiring somebody that makes a massive difference right away.

I, I’m not sure that this suddenly changes the whole trajectory for Baltimore, but you can’t tell me that a team that feels like they’re on the cusp of Super Bowl doesn’t feel better about where they are with a Maxx Crosby on their defense.

Maxx Crosby trade is ‘win-win’ for Ravens and Raiders

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