DALLAS — Six months after a trade to Baltimore collapsed on a physical and the Las Vegas Raiders kept him, Brian Urlacher put Maxx Crosby back in play for the Dallas Cowboys.

Former ESPN host Trey Wingo posted the comments on Aug. 26. Urlacher is part of Wingo’s Inside Football show, alongside Cris Carter, Marvin Lewis, and Steve Keim. He spent all 13 of his NFL seasons with the Chicago Bears and went into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018.

Brian Urlacher On A Dallas Cowboys Trade For Maxx Crosby

The prompt was a report that Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones is still looking to add to a Super Bowl roster. Urlacher had no mechanism in mind for how Dallas would get there.

“If you’re going to keep making big splashes, I have no idea how they would make that happen, but Jerry Jones does,” Urlacher said.

Las Vegas welcomed Crosby back to the building after the Baltimore deal died, and nothing since has suggested the Raiders are shopping him.

“If they want him bad enough, Jerry will find a way to get him,” Urlacher said.

Mike Florio Put A Timeline On Maxx Crosby

Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio had raised the same possibility two weeks earlier, on Aug. 11, in a clip posted by Yahoo Sports, and he attached a condition to it.

“Not necessarily before the season, but once the season starts, if the Raiders struggle,” Florio said. “Because they’ve already stretched the rubber band to the point of trading him. And that was at a time when people were concerned about the health of his knee.”

Crosby is signed through 2029 on the three-year, $106.5 million extension he agreed to in March 2025, and he turns 30 next August.

“He’s cleared. He’s back. Now, whether he’s got five more years in that knee is a different issue,” Florio said. “But, if they aren’t playing well and they understand that Maxx Crosby isn’t going to be part of the long-term solution and they could get value for him.”

The Raiders Kept Maxx Crosby After The Baltimore Deal Died

On March 6, Las Vegas and the Baltimore Ravens agreed on the No. 14 selection in the 2026 draft and a 2027 first-round pick. Crosby flew east and took his physical four days later. The Ravens backed out that night, and Las Vegas announced the collapse in a statement.

NFL Network’s Mike Garafolo reported the reason was medical. ESPN later reported that Baltimore’s evaluation had turned up a degenerative issue in Crosby’s left knee, the one he had operated on in January to repair a torn meniscus.

Crosby has 69.5 sacks in 110 games and five straight Pro Bowl selections, and he put up 10.0 of those sacks last season in 15 games. Las Vegas finished 3-14, the worst record in the league, and took quarterback Fernando Mendoza first overall in April.

Dallas Has Already Made Two Runs At Maxx Crosby

The first run came ahead of last November’s deadline, when the Cowboys called Las Vegas about Crosby and Cincinnati about Trey Hendrickson inside the same stretch of days. Jay Glazer of FOX Sports reported that both teams turned Dallas down. What the Cowboys did instead, hours before the Nov. 4 deadline, was send a 2026 second-round pick, a 2027 first-round pick, and defensive tackle Mazi Smith to the New York Jets for Quinnen Williams.

The second run came in March, when Dallas offered a first-round pick and a second-round pick. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported that the Raiders took Baltimore’s two first-rounders over it. Three days after the Baltimore agreement, the Cowboys acquired Rashan Gary from Green Bay for a 2027 fourth-round pick.

Jones has kept a high selection on the table since.

“A top pick is expendable this year to add somebody meaningful that would help us now,” Jones said in July, per The Athletic’s Jon Machota.

What Dallas Has Left Before the Nov. 10 Deadline

Both of the Cowboys’ own first-round picks in 2027 and 2028 are still on the books, and the only edge rusher they have added since the March pursuit ended is Von Miller, who signed a one-year contract worth $5.5 million with a maximum value of $7.5 million.

Dallas opens the season at MetLife Stadium against the New York Giants on Sunday, Sept. 13, with kickoff set for 7:20 p.m. CT on NBC.