How Maxx Crosby's Recent Surgery Impacts Timeline for Potential Trade From Raiders

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Maxx Crosby’s future is one of the biggest storylines this offseason as the Raiders star could potentially land elsewhere in a trade in the coming months.
The defensive star, who has played all seven seasons of his career with Las Vegas, was shut down for the final two weeks of the 2025 season, and it clearly frustrated him. There’s a possibility that he’s pushing for a trade, even if he hasn’t explicitly said so. Raiders general manager John Spytek remains consistent that he seems to want Crosby to remain in Las Vegas, but we’ll see what comes up in the next few months.
However, a big issue for a potential Crosby trade right now is that he is currently recovering from undergoing a minor meniscus repair surgery on Jan. 7. It was originally expected for the procedure to be a trim, which would be a multi-week recovery, but it ended up being a minor surgery, which bumped up his recovery timeline to three-to-four months. Because of this timeline, Crosby won’t be medically cleared before free agency begins on March 11, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported on Sunday.
This doesn’t mean that Crosby couldn’t be traded before his rehab is over, but with a star player like him, it’s likely that teams wait until he’s recovered to make a blockbuster move.
Crosby recently said he expects to be back on the field in June, although that timeline can certainly change if there are setbacks. It’s good to remember that Micah Parsons was traded to the Packers in late August right before the 2025 season began. So, there’s the possibility that Crosby’s future won’t be determined until the end of preseason.
Crosby is a name NFL fans need to keep an eye out for this offseason.
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Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.
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