Rumors of Maxx Crosby as a trade target for the Dallas Cowboys might seem farfetched, but the idea isn’t as wild as it seems.
Crosby fits the bill for what Jerry Jones wants and needs from a defensive end, and Dallas has the flexibility to make a deal happen.
The Las Vegas Raiders might find it hard to part with their defensive cornerstone, but dealing him could help fast-track a reboot.
Tuesdays during an NFL season can be a blessedly slow time. There are no games, pandemics notwithstanding. It’s a standard off day for most players, those playing on Thursday night notwithstanding. And it’s generally a good time for everyone – the league, the teams, even the media – to assess what just happened following a recently completed weekend of football before looking ahead …
… Wild, Dallas Cowboys-centric rumors in advance of the annual trade deadline notwithstanding.
This otherwise serene Tuesday began with Cowboys owner Jerry Jones opining on the radio, as he does, on the merits of being a trade market buyer while qualifying the reasons why Dallas might or might not get involved.
‘If there were a trade, it will be because it fits us,’ Jones said during an appearance on 105.3 The Fan. ‘And to fit, it’s got to be a reason why the player would leave that we’re interested in going forward with, and it would have to fit us in terms of our plans on our roster, the financial and everything that goes with that.
“What’s realistic is that if we do see an opportunity, we are in as good a shape as we’ve been in in years with picks, with financial, with our cap,’ he added. ‘We’re in as good of shape as we’ve ever been if we see a way to improve our team with a player that makes sense today, this year, next year to entertain it and look at it.’
Mind you, this is the same guy who traded Micah Parsons, who’s on track to be a generational pass rusher, two months ago.
Yet almost simultaneously Tuesday came a compelling twist. Former ESPN anchor Trey Wingo, who’s covered the NFL for years, reported on his X account that the Cowboys had “made inquiries” regarding Las Vegas Raiders Pro Bowl defensive end Maxx Crosby.
This is no shot at Wingo’s sourcing or credibility – and he merely noted the Cowboys were apparently asking about Crosby, as almost every NFL team does about almost every player on another roster – but my Pavlovian response was to roll my eyes.
It’s only been seven months since Crosby, 28, signed a three-year, $106.5 million extension that made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in league history … at the time. Also, he was evidently banged up in Sunday’s 31-0 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Why would the Cowboys want an injured, expensive player, one who’s two years older than Parsons and whose contract would be prohibitive for the Raiders to offload anyway from a salary cap perspective?
Here’s why: Because a little due diligence can be illuminating and serve as a reminder that reflexive responses, inherently, aren’t well-considered ones.
Jones hasn’t publicly weighed in on the Crosby rumor – but, honestly, here are six reasons he should strongly consider pulling the trigger on a deal for him if the Raiders are willing to come to the table.
The Cowboys need a pass rusher
Post-Parsons, the Cowboys rank dead last in total defense, the only NFL team currently surrendering more than 400 yards per game. Their 15 sacks are middle of the pack, but journeyman James Houston is Dallas’ only defender with at least two sacks (he has 3½). And no one will mistake him as a closer − like Parsons was last Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals − who can dominate an offense forced to pass while trying to catch up to or even keep pace with Dak Prescott and the Cowboys’ explosive, top-ranked offense. A taller, heavier player than Parsons, Crosby has also been historically better while defending the run − allegedly a key datapoint in Jones’ decision matrix to offload Parsons in August. But you knew all of this. Onward.
The Cowboys need a tone-setter
January will mark 30 years since Dallas last won a championship, its Super Bowl 30 defeat of the Pittsburgh Steelers the exclamation point on the 1990s teams that won three Lombardi Trophies in four seasons. And while that era was largely defined by Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman, running back Emmitt Smith and wideout Michael Irvin – and Jones’ squabbles with head coach Jimmy Johnson, who pulled the ripcord after the team successfully defended its crown in 1993 – what’s less appreciated was that dynasty’s culture. Johnson created an environment of accountability – on the field anyway – and players, Irvin in particular, enforced it while leading from the front.
Let’s take nothing away from Prescott, wideout CeeDee Lamb and rookie head coach Brian Schottenheimer nowadays, especially given Dallas’ 3-3-1 start has probably exceeded most expectations to this point of the 2025 campaign. But Crosby could bring other elements – the dogged, proverbial blue collar player with the “first one in, last one out” mentality, a relentless, Maxx-effort player whose work ethic outstrips his estimable ability. (And, incidentally, Crosby apparently wasn’t seriously hurt against the Chiefs despite leaving the game.)
His hypothetical arrival would presumably play quite well in Dallas given the Cowboys haven’t gotten over the hump in decades.
Dealing Crosby makes sense for the Raiders
While the Silver and Black’s offseason sowed fresh seeds of hope with the arrivals of coach Pete Carroll, GM John Spytek, quarterback Geno Smith and rookie tailback Ashton Jeanty, cold reality has returned. Sunday’s loss at Arrowhead was the latest reminder that this team is really nowhere close to competing with the Chiefs − nor anyone else in the AFC West for that matter. Smith, 35, resembles the wayward player from his pre-Seattle days, apparently not even up to being the bridge to a franchise passer.
Trading Crosby, his 63½ career sacks and 115 tackles for loss, at his peak makes so much sense for an organization that’s a decade further removed from its “Commitment to Excellence” apex than the Cowboys are from their last Super Bowl appearance.
Dallas has the resources
Jones wasn’t merely bloviating on the radio Tuesday. He and his beloved club are actually in position to execute a blockbuster without necessarily emptying the draft cupboard. In addition to Pro Bowl defensive lineman Kenny Clark, Parsons also fetched a first-round pick in both the 2026 and ’27 drafts from the Green Bay Packers. If Spytek and Carroll (and minority owner Tom Brady?) could extract one of those Round 1 choices, and maybe some lower-tier draft capital as sugar, from Jones, then this would likely play as win-win for both sides. And with more than $30 million in cap space, per OverTheCap – second only to the New England Patriots – Jones could absorb a contract as weighty as Crosby’s.
The contractual math actually works
Ah, yes, here’s the rub – Crosby’s extension. It would be natural to assume that a recent deal would preclude a trade so soon afterward. Parsons, for instance, surpassed Crosby (and others along the way) as the league’s top-compensated non-QB when the Pack enriched him with a four-year, $186 million mega pact that Jones was apparently unwilling to broach. Parsons was guaranteed $120 million at signing, including a $44 million bonus. With so much upfront money, prorated over the life of the deal, Green Bay probably can’t even realistically consider parting with Parsons until 2029 given the dead money repercussions of doing so earlier.
Yet that’s not the case with Crosby’s financial framework. He was guaranteed a handsome $62.5 million to ink his pact, but it’s in the form of guaranteed base salaries − $32.5 million this year and $30 million in 2026 – more of a pay-as-you-go model. Another $29 million is guaranteed against injury in 2027. But, effectively, Jones would simply pick up Crosby’s weekly paychecks moving forward while the Raiders would incur a very palatable dead cap charge of roughly $10.2 million spread over the rest of this season and next. Easy peasy while also enabling Spytek to replenish his own cap coffers when future free agent spending makes more sense.
Now is the time
The Raiders are dead in the water − it’s readily apparent and likely to remain so for another year or two. At minimum. Frankly, they’d be doing right by Crosby, a loyal soldier to this wayward franchise since he was chosen in Round 4 of the 2019 draft, by liberating him and permitting the pursuit of championship glory he desires while Brady and Co. take this operation just about down to the Sin City studs.
Conversely, Jones would be doing right by “America’s Team” by obtaining Crosby – who would not only fill Parsons’ gaping void, for a few good years anyway, but also reopen what seemed a rusted-shut championship window for Prescott, 32, Schottenheimer, 52, and – most notably – the owner himself.
Jones just turned 83 and has been desperately trying to prove he can replicate what he did with Johnson so many years ago. He took a lot of heat, probably deservedly, for his handling of Parsons. That’s overshadowed the seemingly inspired hiring of Schottenheimer and a trade earlier this year for wideout George Pickens, a problem child in Pittsburgh who’s simply been a problem for opposing defenses in Dallas.
And given the state of affairs in what seems to be a wide-open NFC and league at large? Mad Maxx as it sounds on the surface, Crosby the Cowboy might just be the silver bullet Jones has been seeking for so long.
This post appeared first on USA TODAY
