Would the Las Vegas Raiders ever consider trading a star player if they are sellers at the deadline?
The Las Vegas Raiders will be an interesting team to follow in Antonio Pierce’s first year as head coach, earning the job after having the interim tag last season. The Raiders roster is talented, headlined by star pass rusher Maxx Crosby.
But if the Las Vegas Raiders don’t get off to a good start this season, they could find themselves as sellers at the NFL trade deadline.
NFL insider Albert Breer wrote on the Raiders’ upcoming season and hinted that he could see a scenario in which the team is a seller at the deadline. He also mentioned that they would take calls on star pass rusher Maxx Crosby as well:
“I think Pierce will have Crosby’s support. Whether guys like him or Adams or Kolton Miller could become trade bait by the deadline in late October is another question.
The question on that front is, in a competitive AFC West, how long the Raiders can stay in the race. Yes, they went 5–4 in nine games under Pierce last year. It’s a reason why he got the job. But doing that (and you can argue they got a bunch of teams at just the right time), and extending it over a full calendar are two very different things.
I also believe that the roster is a ways off, and the long-term quarterback for Pierce and first-year GM Tom Telesco isn’t on the roster, so there’s a pretty logical scenario out there where they become sellers at the deadline. They would, at the very least, get calls on Crosby. Which doesn’t mean they would trade him—he’s still just 26, so it’d be different than dealing Adams or even Miller—but they would get to see his value to other teams.”
Well, that’s certainly interesting.
It’s not the first time that Crosby has been mentioned in trade rumors during his Raiders career but the team has not dealt him. He’s also stayed loyal to the franchise and was a fan of them hiring Pierce as the new head coach.
Crosby is coming off another big season for the Raiders, recording 14.5 sacks and earning another Pro Bowl bid.
He’s signed through the 2026 season, giving the Raiders three more years of him at the moment. His cap hits are also huge in each of the next three seasons which are a factor in any decision the Las Vegas Raiders will have to make with him moving forward. And he has stated that he wants to be in Las Vegas for the long term as well.
Should the Las Vegas Raiders even consider trading Maxx Crosby?
It’s clear that Maxx Crosby is the Las Vegas Raiders’ best player on the roster and while he would command a big trade package, would it make sense? It really feels like if the Raiders do decide to be sellers at the deadline, they would rather trade someone like wide receiver Davante Adams. He would also command a nice trade package that could help the Raiders try to get this rebuild going faster.
The biggest factor in this is also mentioned in Breer’s article, the quarterback position.
The Raiders are going into this season with Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew, deciding not to trade for a quarterback or even move up in the draft for one. They eventually have to figure out the position if they really want to be a contender in the AFC or even their own division. There are a few ways to do that including acquiring some draft capital to potentially land one.
