Are the Buccaneers Out of Maxx Crosby Trade After NFL Combine Week?

It's no secret that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers need some help at edge rusher. Their edge rushing prowess has been severely lacking in recent years, and it's been one of the main things holding them back from being a true contender even while winning the NFC South for four straight years.

The Bucs lost out on the NFC South after an 8-9 finish in 2025, starting out 6-2 and then losing five of their last seven games. The Bucs tried to inject their edge rush with experience by bringing on Haason Reddick, but that experiment turned out to be a failure due to injury troubles and mediocre play. General manager Jason Licht has identified the pass rush as perhaps the biggest need for the Bucs this offseason, and many fans have been clamoring for him to make a big trade to address it by acquiring Las Vegas Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby.

Crosby, a two-time Second Team All-Pro who has netted 69.5 sacks over the course of his career, has been unhappy in Las Vegas and could be on the move. Sports Illustrated's Albert Breer believes that will happen sooner than later, but the Buccaneers may not be involved.

Are the Buccaneers out of the running for Maxx Crosby?

Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby (98) | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

Breer wrote in a recent article that he believes a Crosby trade could happen as soon as this week. That being said, when mentioning the teams that are keeping an eye on him, he didn't bring up the Buccaneers.

"We should know soon enough which path the Raiders are taking, with teams like Dallas, Chicago, Baltimore, Buffalo, New England, Philadelphia and the Rams keeping tabs on his availability."

Licht said during the week of the Combine that he isn't averse to making a shocking trade, but he's never been big on trades during his time as GM. He's only ever given up a third-round pick for a player at most (edge rusher Jason Pierre-Paul), and since the end of the Tom Brady era in 2022, Licht has been very conservative in free agency and the trade market in an effort to re-sign his own players instead of looking elsewhere.

With that in mind, it's a bit of a long shot that the Bucs would try and trade for a player of Crosby's caliber, and especially given that he's about to turn 30. But that doesn't mean that Licht would never do something like that if the value wasn't right, so they could still be in the mix under the radar as this situation develops.

If Tampa Bay doesn't get Crosby, though, it still needs an edge rusher badly. One could be had in free agency, which starts in March, or in the NFL Draft, which happens at the end of April.

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