![\"Maxx](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2247200192.jpg\")
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ESPN’s Bill Barnwell proposed the New England Patriots move up in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft to potentially select an edge rusher instead of trading for Maxx Crosby.<\/p>\n
A Maxx Crosby<\/a> trade is still on the table for the New England Patriots<\/a> this offseason. Acquiring the former second-team All-Pro would be the best, fastest way for the Patriots to improve at edge rusher.<\/p>\n But in a 2026 NFL<\/a> mock draft entirely filled with trades, ESPN\u2019s Bill Barnwell proposed<\/a> the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> acquire Crosby from the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a>. In the proposal, the Eagles landed Crosby in a package involving the No. 23 overall selection.<\/p>\n After missing on the Las Vegas All-Pro again, Barnwell suggested the Patriots move up to one spot after the new Raiders selection to potentially pick a Crosby alternative.<\/p>\n \u201cCoach Mike Vrabel doesn\u2019t have much depth behind the duo of Harold Landry III<\/a> and Dre\u2019Mont Jones<\/a>, who both are 29 years old,\u201d Barnwell wrote. \u201cThe Bears, Bills, Chiefs<\/a> and Dolphins could all be interested in edge rushers, and that would leave the Pats in move-up mode if they have a favorite in this range.\u201d<\/p>\n In the proposed trade, the Patriots sent the No. 31 overall pick, a third-rounder and sixth-round choice to the Cleveland Browns<\/a>. In exchange, the Patriots received the No. 24 overall selection.<\/p>\n With an edge rusher at No. 24, the Patriots could fill both short-term and long-term needs.<\/p>\n New England could use another edge rusher after veteran K\u2019Lavon Chaisson<\/a> departed in free agency. The Patriots top two edge rushers on their current roster will also both be at least 29 years old before Week 1.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDave Holcomb<\/a> is a sports reporter covering the NFL and MLB for Heavy.com, with a focus on the Pittsburgh Steelers and a variety of other NFL teams. Originally from Pittsburgh, Holcomb has covered college and professional sports for outlets including FanSided, Rotowire and Yardbarker. More about Dave Holcomb<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Patriots\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty ESPN’s Bill Barnwell proposed the New England Patriots move up in the first round of the 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-858136","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-newengland","12":"tag-newenglandpatriots","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116361463765522260","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858136","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=858136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}