Ravens GM Eric DeCosta 'gutted' over decision to call off Maxx Crosby trade with Raiders

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Less than 24 hours after the Ravens pulled out of the Maxx Crosby trade, Baltimore general manager Eric DeCosta fielded questions about the stunning decision.

In short, DeCosta explained they were not able to “complete the process” of trading for the star Raiders pass rusher, which left him “gutted.”

“We were really excited about adding Maxx, potentially adding Maxx, to our team,” DeCosta told reporters on Wednesday. “I had already begun discussions with (Raiders GM) John Spytek. Those discussions continued. We were really thinking that we were getting some traction. We did, I would say, as part of the normal sort of trade process — there’s a lot of different parts involved with the trade process.

“We’d done a lot of different trades, and one of the key things is that, you know, you bring the player in, you try to get as much information as you can. We did that, and we were not able to complete the process of acquiring a player based on, you know, our assessment of the situation. Very very, I think, disappointing. … This was certainly a tough call to make.”

DeCosta’s Ravens have indeed made plenty of trades, but no deals of this caliber, which would have sent 2026 and 2027 first-round draft picks to Las Vegas. For the first time in franchise history, Baltimore had committed first-round picks in a trade for an established veteran, a massive swing with one goal in mind: Win a Super Bowl.

All that was left was for Crosby to pass a physical, which is where the Ravens encountered a series of bumps that ultimately convinced them to turn the car around and head home. NFL Network Insiders Ian Rapoport, Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo reported on Tuesday night that the Ravens ultimately decided that they were not ready to assume the risk from Crosby’s knee, which necessitated surgery earlier this offseason to repair his meniscus.

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DeCosta did not discuss his team’s evaluation of Crosby’s health on Wednesday, but he did shed light on his conversations with Crosby and the Raiders when it was determined that the trade would not go through.

“It’s tough, it’s challenging,” DeCosta said. “It was devastating for me to have that conversation; I’m sure challenging for them to hear as well. It’s also very, very, very, very hard for the player to hear that, as well. And it’s probably hardest for [Crosby] more than anybody else.”

Following Tuesday’s turnabout, the Ravens quickly pivoted and agreed to a four-year, $112 million deal with former Bengals pass rusher Trey Hendrickson. DeCosta told reporters that Hendrickson was not a Plan B, but that Hendrickson represented the second half of their defensive master plan that became possible after Tyler Linderbaum agreed to a deal with the Raiders.

“We were very focused on Maxx and [had] a lot of attention given to that particular acquisition,” DeCosta said. “As I said, [he’s] a player that I think really fits us and his skillset. We’ve played against him. I really admire him in many different ways. I think for us, it was going to be probably our biggest foundational acquisition this year. So, I didn’t really look at him as like, ‘Oh, we’ll do this because of that.’ It was really more, ‘How do we get better as a football team?’

“In terms of Trey, I think we came to a point probably after we lost Tyler where, as we’re trying to find the best way for us to get better as a football team, Trey kind of made a lot of sense as a possible guy to look at. So, we started some discussions with him and his agent, thinking that potentially we’d have two pass rushers on the defensive line on both sides of the line. Again, I think it was disappointing to us and probably in a way, potentially disappointing probably to Trey, as well.”

DeCosta’s mention of Linderbaum is important because it suggests the Ravens could have taken stock of their roster following an uncharacteristically significant exodus of players and wondered whether they’d taken the most prudent approach toward reshaping their team at the start of the 2026 league year. Linderbaum’s departure was especially significant given his status as the top center available in an unusually hot center market, Baltimore’s inability to entice him to stay and the resulting effects it had on how the Ravens would approach the rest of the busiest week of the NFL offseason.

“So we had started discussions with [Crosby and Hedrickson],” DeCosta said. “We had already agreed to potentially the trade with the Raiders. We were trying to sign Tyler, obviously. We weren’t able to get that done. Looking at the best ways for us to improve our football team, at some point, we just said, ‘You know what? This might be a guy that really fits us,’ and we played against [Hendrickson] twice a year for the last, whatever many years, four or five years. And thought, ‘Hey, maybe this is a way for us to get better as a football team.’ So that was definitely a possibility for us, not to say it would have happened, but definitely something that we had contemplated and discussed with Trey.”

Essentially, with cap space earmarked for Linderbaum now free to spend elsewhere, DeCosta could expand his range of possibilities concerning other available players, clearing room for Hendrickson — who raised eyebrows with his own patient approach to free agency — to enter the equation.

It’s fair to wonder whether the Ravens watched an unexpected number of players leave, then adjusted how they valued the picks they’d already verbally committed to Las Vegas in the proposed Crosby trade and reconsidered their aggressive agreement.

We’ll likely never know for certain whether this was the case, but DeCosta knows his team will remain the subject of scrutiny, skepticism — and perhaps worst of all, hesitancy — from outside parties for some time.

It’s a risk he was willing to take.

“I understand it. We live in that age of skepticism, and people question, especially people that don’t really know me, don’t know the Ravens culture, the Ravens organization,” DeCosta said. “So I understand it. As I said at the beginning, we got a responsibility — I’ve got a responsibility — to the Ravens, to this community, to our fans, and to Steve Bisciotti, to do what we think is best for the club. And that’s what we always try to do. Every decision we make is based on this idea: Is this the best thing for the Ravens? Very, very challenging.

“And I understand how people, maybe, from afar would feel that way, but nobody’s more upset about this than me. Gutted by it, actually. And so, a regret — a big regret for me. But we will move on as a, as a football team, and I think there’s many, many opportunities for us to grow as a team, to become a better team, to build a roster, and to be the team that we want to be.”

Those tracking the Ravens might wonder if the sequence of unusual events could affect how Baltimore manages its financial situation with quarterback Lamar Jackson. In short, DeCosta said it won’t change much, and he confirmed on Wednesday that they restructured Jackson’s deal to free up $40 million in cap space.

As for how other teams might approach the Ravens after their cold feet drove them from the altar, DeCosta isn’t worried.

“It hasn’t stopped my phone from ringing. I’ll tell you that,” DeCosta said. “I think our relationship with agents and other teams is really, really good. I understand the question. I think that GMs understand the importance of getting as much information as possible before making decisions and I would say that most agents would say that myself, George [Kokinis], Nick [Matteo], Mark Azevedo, Ozzie [Newsome], Sashi [Brown], everybody that works with agents would say that we’re a class organization that does business the right way, respectful and willing to get deals done.”

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