It’s quite impressive to see that Maxx Crosby handled the failed trade situation so calmly. While fans and NFL pundits have been blasting the Ravens for what they see as a bad-faith move, Crosby focused on something more personal. He just celebrated six years of sobriety and also posted on X to hype Raider Nation, making it very clear he’s back and excited for the 2026 season.
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And that’s where Emmanuel Acho comes in. The analyst believes the Raiders defensive end should actually be “disgusted.”
Why? Acho laid out a few reasons. First, he argues that the Ravens already knew about Crosby’s injury. The knee issue wasn’t some secret. Crosby had meniscus surgery and was even shut down for the final two games of the 2025 season, something the entire league was aware of. Yet the Ravens were still willing to trade for him.
Second, Crosby is reportedly ahead of schedule in his rehab, so Acho believes the Ravens’ citing concerns about the knee does not fully add up.
Third, and most importantly, Acho says Crosby should be upset with the media. In his opinion, they have spent the past few days running what he called a “hit job” on the star pass rusher.
“Maxx should feel disgusted by the intentional, public hit job by so many reporters. Not just [Dianna] Russini, it’s not an attack on Russini. But [Adam] Schefter himself is also putting out, ‘Well, the Ravens wanted to acquire [Trey] Hendrickson and Maxx Cosby,'” Acho said on the Speakeasy podcast.
The analyst believes the reports claiming the team wanted two pass rushers are being pushed for a reason. In his view, it’s the only way to make people believe that the Crosby deal fell through because of the injury. And that’s where Schefter and Russini come in, whom Acho argues the Ravens are using to shift the narrative.
In truth, Acho says the Ravens saw a chance to land a pass rusher on a cheaper deal (Hendrickson, whom they signed on a 4-year, $112M deal) while also keeping the two first-round picks they were set to give up for Crosby. According to the analyst, that opportunity ultimately led the team to back out of the trade with the Raiders.
“The Ravens realized Trey Hendrickson is still available after day and half of free agency. We want the pass rusher that’s given 17.5 sacks in back-to-back years, just two and three years ago, for cheaper. And we can keep our picks… It is not about Maxx Crosby’s knee injury, you knew about his knee injury, you knew he was hurt.”
Like Acho, many others have argued the same thing, that the Ravens only backed out of the deal so they could land Hendrickson on a cheaper one. Even Stephen A. Smith thinks Baltimore GM Eric DeCosta could have handled the situation in a better way, saying they should have been upfront from the start if they were not confident about Crosby and wanted to explore the market.
“You literally could sit up there and say, ‘We changed our minds. We reflected on this, and we don’t want to do this because we want to keep these two first-round picks, and we had an opportunity to get Trey Hendrickson, and this is a business decision,’” Stephen A. said. “Had you done it like that, it might not have been liked. But in the same breath, it’s not necessarily corrupt, sleezy, and shady.”
With that said, one could argue that Crosby shouldn’t be disgusted by what went down. Instead, he could channel any frustration from the situation and produce a strong season this year. With all the signings the Raiders made in free agency, and what they are expected to do in the draft, Crosby’s production could actually help make them a contender.
