{"id":661784,"date":"2026-01-07T18:36:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T18:36:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/661784\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T18:36:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T18:36:11","slug":"las-vegas-raiders-maxx-crosby-trade-talk-in-final-nfl-power-rankings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/661784\/","title":{"rendered":"Las Vegas Raiders: Maxx Crosby trade talk in final NFL Power Rankings"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> have played their last game of the 2025 season, and we have our final NFL Power Ranking roundup to put a bow on the campaign. With the offseason and the Raiders\u2019 rebuild in mind, the national media continues to float the idea that Maxx Crosby could be on the trade block<\/a> this offseason.<\/p>\n

On an administrative note, a lot of the outlets that we\u2019ve been keeping tabs on throughout the season didn\u2019t publish a final power ranking or just focused on the playoff teams. So, we have a few new sources for this week\u2019s column.<\/p>\n

32. Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n

Last week: 32<\/p>\n

All signs point to the team drafting a quarterback this offseason after earning the top pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. The Raiders\u2019 last-placed finish is a reflection of GM John Spytek\u2019s failed Geno Smith trade from the 2025 offseason, but acquiring the veteran always seemed like a transitional move. And speaking of transitions, Vegas will have a new coaching staff in 2026 after the one-year Pete Carroll experiment fell flat. Now all the focus must be on finding a leader who can dispel a losing culture, shepherd a young quarterback and rebuild trust inside and outside of the organization. It could be a monumental offseason for the program, as defensive pillar Maxx Crosby and the team appeared to be on different pages by season\u2019s end, with his future very much hanging in the balance. The Raiders could be a golden rebuilding opportunity, but it\u2019s also a team fraught with issues and major decisions. \u2014 Eric Edholm<\/a><\/p>\n

This won\u2019t (or shouldn\u2019t) play a factor in his decision, but Spytek already isn\u2019t popular within Raider Nation after a rough first season on the job. Trading away the team\u2019s most popular player certainly wouldn\u2019t do him any favors in that regard. But Spytek has had the organization\u2019s long-term vision since taking over last offseason, and it\u2019s not his job to sell jerseys. Sometimes, you have to be the villain to emerge as the superhero.<\/p>\n

31. Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n

Last week: 32<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next: Trading Maxx Crosby<\/p>\n

This relationship doesn\u2019t feel fixable. After the Raiders put their star defensive end on IR last week, he posted videos of himself playing basketball and jumping on a trampoline. Crosby\u2019s contract is very tradable, and it\u2019d be nice for the wider NFL world to see him in the playoffs again at some point. \u2014 Josh Kendall and Chad Graff<\/a><\/p>\n

Originally, the situation with Crosby getting shut down felt similar to Derek Carr\u2019s situation a few years ago, where the defensive end left the Raiders\u2019 facilities and wasn\u2019t seen on the sideline during the Week 17 game. However, it\u2019s encouraging that he was present last week, so it doesn\u2019t seem like a completely broken relationship to me. That being said, the Pro Bowler clearly wasn\u2019t happy with the organization\u2019s decision, and who can fault him if he wants out after playing seven seasons and only appearing in one playoff game?<\/p>\n

32. Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n

Last week: 32<\/p>\n

Head coach Pete Carroll is out in Las Vegas after an awful year. Nothing about this organization has improved since it made sweeping changes last offseason, and this team will have to find a new quarterback and head coach combination for the fourth consecutive year.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s an avenue to speed up this rebuild process through the draft\u2014and it certainly helps that Vegas owns the No. 1 pick\u2014but a complete reset probably means the team will need to trade away its best player, edge rusher Maxx Crosby. Crosby has never publicly asked to leave the organization, but being shut down before the end of this season could be a precursor to him being shopped for a high draft pick to help the Raiders build around their next quarterback. If Crosby becomes available, contending teams should clamor for his game-changing talent. \u2014 Diante Lee<\/a><\/p>\n

Technically, Crosby asked for a trade if Antonio Pierce wasn\u2019t hired as the full-time head coach a couple of offseasons ago. But that felt like more of a publicity stunt for his The Rush<\/a> podcast, which started in Oct. 2023. Speaking of that, it\u2019s interesting that he hasn\u2019t come out and said something along the lines of: \u201cI was frustrated with the decision to shut me down for the final two games, but I continue to be committed to the Raiders and winning in Las Vegas.\u201d Recently, Jim Gray even asked Crosby on the Let\u2019s Go!<\/a> podcast about the situation, giving the defensive end an opportunity to make that statement.<\/p>\n

32. Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n

Last week: 32<\/p>\n

Pete Carroll is out and they have the No. 1 pick in the draft. There are big changes coming – and they are needed in a big way. \u2014 Pete Prisco<\/a><\/p>\n

There isn\u2019t too much to go on here, but there\u2019s no denying that big changes are coming in Las Vegas over the next few months. On top of a new head coach, the Raiders have seven players who played over 50 percent of the team\u2019s snaps and are about to have their contracts expire, per Over The Cap<\/a>. That doesn\u2019t include Geno Smith, Malcolm Koonce, Jamal Adams and Daniel Carlson.<\/p>\n

32. Las Vegas Raiders<\/p>\n

Last week: 32<\/p>\n

The Raiders were supposed to be competitive this season. That\u2019s why Pete Carroll was brought in. Instead, they were the worst team in the NFL. That\u2019s why Carroll was fired after one year. The Raiders never seem to have a plan, and it\u2019s hard to trust them to make the right hire to help whichever quarterback will be the first overall pick in the NFL Draft. But the Raiders announced Tom Brady will be involved, which satisfies Mark Davis\u2019 desire to have recognizable names associated with his team. \u2014 Frank Schwab<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cInterviews with 22 people in and around the team and the league point less to Brady as the cause of another failed year than continued dysfunction symptomatic of an impatient owner, a misaligned front office and coaching staff, and players who lost respect for their coaches. How the team will navigate it all is one of the defining questions of the NFL offseason.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, maybe Mark Davis getting out of the way is the key for the franchise to finally get the head coach decision right. Kahler and McFadden also reported that Brady wanted Ben Johnson badly last offseason (which was widely known last year), but Johnson took the Chicago Bears\u2019 job before Las Vegas could make him an official offer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Las Vegas Raiders have played their last game of the 2025 season, and we have our final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":661785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2065],"tags":[7,1744,393,68096,2455,2454,6,525],"class_list":{"0":"post-661784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-las-vegas-raiders","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-las-vegas","10":"tag-las-vegas-raiders","11":"tag-las-vegas-raiders-power-rankings","12":"tag-lasvegas","13":"tag-lasvegasraiders","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-raiders"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115855267245078058","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=661784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/661784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/661785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=661784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=661784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=661784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}