The Las Vegas Raiders thought they had put the Maxx Crosby trade talk to bed in the spring. Two weeks from the start of camp, it is back — and this time the interest is coming from the Bay Area.
Raiders on SI reporter Hondo Carpenter described the San Francisco 49ers as “nuclear hot” to acquire Crosby, and the reasoning is easy to follow. San Francisco finished the 2025 season with a league-low 20 sacks. With Nick Bosa returning from a torn ACL and 2025 first-round pick Mykel Williams working back from his own knee injury, a healthy Crosby would remake a shaky pass rush overnight.
What has not surfaced is an agreed price. Vincent Bonsignore of The California Post floated a framework — the 49ers’ 2027 first-round pick, a 2028 second-rounder and Williams — but framed it as a starting point rather than an offer on the table. NBC Sports noted any current package likely falls short of what Baltimore was prepared to give up earlier this offseason, before the Ravens walked away over concerns about a reported “degenerative issue” in Crosby’s knee.
That failed Baltimore deal is the part worth remembering. The Raiders were willing to listen once, which means the door is not bolted shut. Crosby is signed through the three-year, $106.5 million extension he inked after the 2024 season, and his 2026 cap hit lands near $35.8 million — a real number for a defender coming off a knee that spooked at least one suitor.
Crosby, for his part, is speaking like a man who expects to stay. On his podcast he said the rehab is going well, that he feels “ahead of schedule” and “like myself,” and he is expected to be on the field when Las Vegas begins workouts. The front office, under a regime hired to change the narrative around this team, has to weigh what it says to a rebuilding roster to move its best and most visible player for picks that pay off years from now.
Veterans report July 28. Until then, the question is not whether the 49ers want Crosby — they clearly do — but whether the Raiders are willing to have the conversation a second time.
