Albert Breer: NFL GMs Believe Ravens Got ‘Cold Feet’ on Nixed Maxx Crosby Trade

The Raiders announced that the Ravens were backing out of their trade for star pass-rusher Maxx Crosby on Tuesday night. | Denny Medley-Imagn Images

In the most stunning news of NFL free agency so far, the Ravens backed out of their trade for star pass-rusher Maxx Crosby, the Raiders said in a statement Tuesday night.

Crosby, who suffered a meniscus injury in his left knee last October, did not pass his physical, according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. The Ravens nixed the trade and will get their two first-rounders back.

On Tuesday night, Breer added some more context to his initial report and broke down the league-wide buzz surrounding the Ravens’ startling decision to back out of their agreement.

“I talked to three GMs who believed that the root of all this was the Ravens getting cold feet—and that Baltimore had to have the information, everyone knew about the knee, and it was pretty unlikely that any disqualifying surprise surfaced during the physical,” Breer wrote. “The Ravens’ folks I subsequently spoke with vehemently denied that. Regardless, some suspicion will be cast on that organization moving forward.

“And so Baltimore’s next moves will be critical, because now everyone will be watching to see if anything underhanded is afoot.”

BREER: Answering the Biggest Questions Surrounding the Canceled Maxx Crosby Trade

The Athletic’s Dianna Russini similarly reported that many around the NFL thought Ravens GM Eric DeCosta “ultimately just got cold feet” when it came to finalizing the deal.

Crosby was back at the Raiders’ facility at 6 a.m. Wednesday, Breer reported, and it’s a possibility that the five-time Pro Bowl pass-rusher stays with the Raiders organization in 2026. “Maxx is going to be a monster this year as an F you to Baltimore,” one source texted Russini.

Maxx Crosby was in the @Raiders building at 6 am this morning to resume rehab, and the team brass reached out to him immediately after the trade died yesterday. General feeling—Crosby's a Raider, let's move forward.

Trade calls came. More will come. But that's where things are.

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 11, 2026

At the time of the trade news, the Ravens had made the very uncharacteristic decision to give up not just one but two first-round picks for Crosby, the first time they had done so in their franchise history. Perhaps they didn’t want to set a historical precedent like that on a player who was rehabbing a serious knee injury, and decided the high risk ultimately wasn’t worth the high reward.

To throw more scrutiny onto the Ravens’ decisions, less than a day after backing out of the Crosby deal, Baltimore quickly pivoted to sign former Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson on a four-year contract with up to $120 million.

We have yet to hear the Ravens’ side of things, which should provide some clarity on the muddled situation. What we do know is that the Ravens reportedly re-negotiated Lamar Jackson’s contract on Tuesday to create more cap room, according to CBS Sports’ Aditi Kinkhabwala. All apparent signs at the time pointed toward the Ravens bringing Crosby in this week before seemingly deciding they had buyer’s remorse and were no longer comfortable with what would have been a franchise-defining trade.

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