NFL Insider confirms ‘smoke’ around potential Maxx Crosby trade

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18 February 2026 at 01:38

The franchise tag window opened Tuesday, and free agency starts next month. The 2025 season is done, but the NFL does not slow down. Attention has already shifted to trades, roster moves, and the 2026 NFL Draft.

Maxx Crosby’s name keeps coming up in those conversations. The Las Vegas Raiders star has been at the center of trade speculation for weeks now, and the chatter is not fading.

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Even with Super Bowl LX still on the schedule, questions about Crosby’s future won’t go away. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport addressed the situation during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show.

Rich Eisen asked if the trade talk around Crosby was worth taking seriously. Rapoport confirmed there’s substance behind the rumors.

“Yeah, there is reason to bother, this is definitely not nothing. I just don’t know what it is yet. The reason why is like… there will be plenty of times where you see smoke around a player. Then you get to like March 10th, 11th, 12th and then okay now we learn why this player gets traded. I don’t know if that’s going to be the case with Maxx Crosby.”

“This is as complicated a situation as I can remember. I’ll go through the reasons why. One…[the way the season ended] had an effect on him. He wanted to play, it turns out he had a significant knee injury, but he wanted to play and was upset that he did not get to finish on the field with his teammates. …Then he has surgery and it’s not a trim, it’s a repair. It’s… not as major of a repair as it could have been.” Rapoport said.

Crosby had surgery in January for a knee issue that turned out to be more serious than initially expected. His recovery will take months, which means he likely will not be cleared by the time the new league year begins.

Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby (98) stretches during warmups prior to the game against the Kansas City Chiefs at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Denny Medley-Imagn Images

The tension between Crosby and the Raiders became obvious late in the season. The team shut him down despite reports that he wanted to keep playing.

That decision left some frustration on both sides, and it’s fueled speculation that bigger problems exist between the player and the organization.

Still, rumors tend to run faster than facts. Nothing concrete has come out yet, and Raiders fans would be smart to wait before treating the trade talk as inevitable.