Ravens pulling off massive trade for Maxx Crosby sends an unintended message Bengals fans should hear out
Cincinnati’s division rival went in an aggressive direction over a conventional alternative.
The Baltimore Ravens won the Maxx Crosby sweepstakes Friday evening, trading away their next two first-round picks to the Las Vegas Raiders in exchange for one of the best defensive ends in the NFL.
Baltimore has never used a first-round pick as part of a trade to get a player in return. New head coach Jesse Minter will now not have a first-round pick to use until 2028 barring any deals to acquire one.
It’s a steep price to land a great player, and it also sends a message about the Cincinnati Bengals and Trey Hendrickson.
Ravens chose trading for Maxx Crosby over signing Trey Hendrickson in free agency
Trading for a Pro Bowl player is a big swing and there’s an emotional aspect attached to that, but beyond the symbolism and everything adjacent, the Ravens simply wanted a great EDGE player for Minter’s scheme. Crosby was their target, and they gave up a lucrative haul to get him.
They chose that route, the one that involves both taking on a massive contract and sacrificing draft picks, over just paying impending free agent Trey Hendrickson next week when the tampering window opens.
Baltimore knows Hendrickson very well after facing him eight times since the 2021 season. He posted five total sacks in those eight games. When Minter was the Los Angeles Chargers defensive coordinator in 2024, he watched Hendrickson try his best to carry a maligned Bengals defense in their 2024 matchup.
The AFC West connection between Minter and Crosby is obvious, but again, there was the hurdle of trading for him rather than simply offering Hendrickson the best contract to land a comparable pass rusher.
Either the Ravens didn’t want to compete with other clubs for Hendrickson, or they simply preferred Crosby by a margin as wide as two first-round picks indicates it is.
That says quite a bit, and considering the Bengals never received a trade offer that had one, let alone two first-rounders, it’s clear Crosby is regarded as the better player around the league even if the data says it’s pretty close.
Age may have also played a factor. Hendrickson is 31, and Crosby is 28. They’re both coming off an injury, but Crosby being nearly three full years younger than Hendrickson may have given Baltimore more confidence he’ll be worth the trade a few years down the road.
Hendrickson will not be coming back to Cincinnati, and he also won’t be a Raven when it’s all said and done. That should make Bengals fans feel a little bit better, and that an arch rival preferred paying an arm and a leg for someone else provides a little bit more validity to Cincy’s plan of letting him walk.
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