The Baltimore Ravens struck on Friday evening. They needed an aggressive offseason to turn the page after an uncharacteristically bad season on defense, and boy did they do that. How about a trade for edge rusher Maxx Crosby to turn that page?
ESPN sources: the Raiders agreed to trade five-time Pro-Bowl DE Maxx Crosby to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for 2026 and 2027 first-round picks.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 7, 2026
The trade cannot be processed until next week, but it is in place. And Crosby is expected to be a Raven with two 1s back to Vegas. pic.twitter.com/rfExCLpXfF
The Ravens dealt first round picks in 2026 and 2027 to complete the trade with Las Vegas.
Ravens fans are simply at a loss for words. They’re stunned. General manager Eric DeCosta doesn’t love trading draft picks, and two first-round picks? It takes a special player to get DeCosta to agree to giving up that package, and Crosby is definitely special.
The fallout from this trade will be interesting to see. The most notable aspect of this is Baltimore’s cap space. They’ll need to make room for Crosby’s $30 million salary, and by the sound of it, that money could come from a Lamar Jackson extension.
Unless LV is eating a ton of Crosby’s $30M salary, this must means that a Lamar ext is coming. The Ravens project to only have $9-11M in Cap space, so to get to the necessary $30M, it must come from Lamar. After 3/11 when the trade is official, Crosby’s deal will be redone. https://t.co/8uDB1roQ37
— Brian McFarland (@RavensSalaryCap) March 7, 2026
With the trade not being able to be finalized until next week, a Jackson contract agreement seems like the obvious next move.
Baltimore Ravens must reach agreement on Lamar Jackson contract after Maxx Crosby move
Jackson’s cap hit is enormous. It reaches $74.5 million in 2026, and while he’s under contract through 2027, the time to sign a new contract is now.
DeCosta is aware of the situation. He talked about the Jackson contract talks at the NFL Combine, noting he and Jackson will keep that private, but they have been making progress in talks. With the Crosby trade, those negotiations should be nearing the finish line…hopefully.
Whatever Jackson’s next contract comes out to be, it will undoubtedly make him the highest-paid player on a per year basis. That honor currently goes to Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott with a lucrative $60 million salary, but it’s time for Jackson to surpass that and reset the market.
Regardless of how much longer the negotiations take, it’s been clear since the start of the offseason that the idea was to give Jackson a new deal in the coming months. Owner Steve Bisciotti talked about it in the press conference after firing John Harbaugh, and after Jackson played a key role in the coaching search, it’s obvious they intend to sign him to a deal that makes him a Raven for life. The Crosby deal hopefully speeds the process up.
Last year was troublesome for Jackson. Injuries caught up to him due to poor offensive line play. However, he was still one of the best players in the NFL and was on an MVP pace before injuring his hamstring in a Week 4 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. He’s shown he deserves a market-setting deal, and just as Baltimore is looking to invest more money in Jackson, they should be looking to surround him with more talent to prepare for a Super Bowl run this upcoming season. Crosby is the exact type of talent they should be adding.