The two things NFL teams value most are franchise quarterbacks, and the pass rushers who can drop those passers on their butts. Thus you have the Ravens trading away two first-round picks to Las Vegas for Maxx Crosby.
Crosby's been great ever since teams somehow let him fall to the fourth round of the NFL Draft back in 2019. The Raiders themselves messed that one up by selecting journeyman defensive end Clelin Ferrell at 4th overall that year, salvaging things by selecting Crosby over 100 picks later.
Crosby had 10 sacks as a rookie, but he's been especially good over the last four seasons. In 61 games, he's got 44.5 sacks. He's one of just 27 players who's averaged over half a sack per game over that time period, and a case can be made that his all-around impact is better than any of the others.
Because Crosby isn't only a pass rusher but a productive tackler. In those four years, while averaging about 3/4 of a sack per game, he's averaged nearly 5 total tackles per game. That's nearly a tackle per week more than any of the other top pass rushers. (Table sorted by tackles per game; in terms of sacks per game, he's 7th.)
| SACKS AND TACKLES PER GAME, 2022-2025 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | G | Sk | Solo | Ast | Tck | Sk/G | Tck/G |
| Maxx Crosby | 61 | 44.5 | 186 | 111 | 297 | 0.73 | 4.9 |
| Jeffery Simmons | 58 | 29 | 135 | 106 | 241 | 0.50 | 4.2 |
| Byron Young | 51 | 27.5 | 121 | 84 | 205 | 0.54 | 4.0 |
| Harold Landry | 49 | 28 | 114 | 76 | 190 | 0.57 | 3.9 |
| T.J. Watt | 58 | 43 | 138 | 85 | 223 | 0.74 | 3.8 |
| Brian Burns | 66 | 45.5 | 147 | 104 | 251 | 0.69 | 3.8 |
| Alex Highsmith | 58 | 37 | 136 | 79 | 215 | 0.64 | 3.7 |
| Danielle Hunter | 68 | 54 | 159 | 89 | 248 | 0.79 | 3.6 |
| Micah Parsons | 61 | 52 | 127 | 86 | 213 | 0.85 | 3.5 |
| Nick Bosa | 50 | 40 | 117 | 56 | 173 | 0.80 | 3.5 |
| Bradley Chubb | 49 | 27.5 | 89 | 70 | 159 | 0.56 | 3.2 |
| Josh Hines-Allen | 67 | 40.5 | 132 | 85 | 217 | 0.60 | 3.2 |
| Jonathan Greenard | 52 | 29 | 105 | 60 | 165 | 0.56 | 3.2 |
| Myles Garrett | 66 | 67 | 153 | 56 | 209 | 1.02 | 3.2 |
| Khalil Mack | 62 | 36.5 | 129 | 66 | 195 | 0.59 | 3.1 |
| Aidan Hutchinson | 56 | 43 | 118 | 58 | 176 | 0.77 | 3.1 |
| Will Anderson | 46 | 30 | 91 | 45 | 136 | 0.65 | 3.0 |
| Tuli Tuipulotu | 50 | 26 | 98 | 46 | 144 | 0.52 | 2.9 |
| Rashan Gary | 59 | 30 | 95 | 73 | 168 | 0.51 | 2.8 |
| Montez Sweat | 67 | 36 | 119 | 69 | 188 | 0.54 | 2.8 |
| Nnamdi Madubuike | 53 | 27 | 90 | 58 | 148 | 0.51 | 2.8 |
| Josh Sweat | 66 | 37.5 | 108 | 54 | 162 | 0.57 | 2.5 |
| Trey Hendrickson | 56 | 47 | 94 | 43 | 137 | 0.84 | 2.4 |
| Haason Reddick | 57 | 30.5 | 91 | 41 | 132 | 0.54 | 2.3 |
| Nik Bonitto | 64 | 37 | 93 | 45 | 138 | 0.58 | 2.2 |
| Chris Jones | 65 | 38 | 84 | 56 | 140 | 0.58 | 2.2 |
| Denico Autry | 51 | 26 | 60 | 38 | 98 | 0.51 | 1.9 |
Crosby will turn 29 years old in August, so maybe some could argue a decline isn't too far off. But reasonable to think he's got 4-5 more years of playing at a high level. Trey Hendrickson is 31 right now, and he's going to make a mint in the next week, perhaps from Dallas (which was apparently the runner up for bidding on Crosby).
Baltimore identifying pass rush as a critical need area isn't surprising. Their defense had a top-5 pass rush from 2022-2024, ranking 1st and 2nd in sacks in two of those years. In 2025 they had just 30 sacks, which was a bottom-3 total. They had to do something, even though it's a steep price.
(A post I saw online noted that it's a rough day for Joe Burrow. Arguably the three best pass rushers in the league -- Crosby, T.J. Watt and new single-season sack leader Myles Garrett -- now live in the AFC North, accounting for over a third of Burrow's annual schedule. Sucks for him.)
As for the Raiders, well, if you thought their roster didn't look bad enough, now they don't have any pass rush, either. But they've got both the No. 1 and No. 16 picks in next month's draft. They'll be drafting a franchise quarterback and (ideally) a potential difference-maker at another position with those picks. Hard to be worse than last year, of course, but this should help them get better. Although they'll miss Crosby.
--Andy Richardson
