You want to see desperation in the NFL marketplace?
Just look at the Baltimore Ravens and their pivot from Maxx Crosby to Trey Hendrickson with the NFL poised to ring the bell on a new league year on Wednesday.
The Ravens, trying to revive an inept pass rush, were desperate enough last weekend to trade two first-round picks to the Las Vegas Raiders to land Crosby, despite knowing the premier edge rusher is in full rehab mode after his January surgery to fix a torn meniscus in his left knee.
Then, after flunking Crosby on his physical on Tuesday – fueling the perception they merely had buyer’s remorse because they already knew the knee isn’t good to go at this point – the Ravens turned right around and agreed to sign Hendrickson to a four-year, $112 million free agent contract.
That’s assuming, of course, that Hendrickson, 31, passes his physical.
Hendrickson, the former Cincinnati Bengal rated among the top free agents on the market, is coming off surgery, too.
The Ravens were desperate enough to quickly reverse course. Remember, after leading the NFL with 17 ½ sacks in 2024, Hendrickson’s 2025 campaign was cut short halfway through by a hip injury that led to core muscle surgery. Yet the Ravens are apparently good enough with that to pay him $28 million per year.
Yeah, this start to the NFL’s offseason marketplace – fueled by a record salary cap of $301.2 million – is just wild.
Granted, the Ravens had every right to pull out of the trade for Crosby that was struck before the start of NFL’s new league year at 4 p.m. ET on Wednesday. It’s a stunning reminder that nothing is official, including the bevy of free agent deals agreed to during the (supposed) two-day “legal tampering” window, until the ball drops on the new calendar.
But man does it stink, leaving the Raiders to pick up the pieces without those two first-round picks – one in April, another in 2027 – that they thought were coming from Baltimore. And suddenly, the hefty price that Raiders GM John Spytek had working on the market for a Crosby deal has gone up in smoke.
Of course, it’s rather standard for any trade – and especially one involving so much premium draft capital – to be contingent on a player passing a physical.
It’s just that one team’s flunking grade doesn’t cover all 32. Remember the time when Drew Brees, coming off shoulder surgery in 2006, was flunked on a physical by the Miami Dolphins? Instead, the New Orleans Saints signed Brees. And later this year, Brees, No. 2 all-time for passing yards and TDs, will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
I’m guessing that Ravens GM Eric DeCosta surely knows that history. Pressed to juice his defense, DeCosta conceivably entered into the Crosby sweepstakes with his eyes wide open when considering the risk. Crosby finished the 2025 season on injured reserve, shut down by the Raiders because of the knee injury – which left him hopping mad while Las Vegas, without its best player for the final two games, hurtled toward clinching the No. 1 pick overall in April that undoubtedly will be used to select quarterback Fernando Mendoza – and all of the potential trade partners knew the rehab is in midstream.
As of mid-day Wednesday, the Ravens had not publicly commented on why they pulled out. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Ravens consulted multiple team doctors – including Jonathan Cooper of the Dallas Cowboys – who reviewed Crosby’s MRI scans.
Interestingly, the Cowboys – whose team owner, Jerry Jones, recently declared that he wasn’t interested in pursuing “medical redshirts” this year in the draft and free agency, despite a history for waiting on players rebounding from injury – were not seriously in the mix to make a play for Crosby nor Hendrickson.
In any event, if the Ravens had second thoughts about giving up those first-round picks – and with the upcoming draft purportedly deep in edge rushers – they certainly had some cover and incentive.
The incentive might have been the market for Hendrickson, who didn’t attract offers that would have put him in Crosby’s range ($35.5 million per year). With a $28 million average, Hendrickson ranks 11th in average pay for edge rushers, according to Spotrac.com, with the $46.5 million for Micah Parsons topping that scale.
So, as it turns out, the Ravens can keep their picks and hope Hendrickson brings enough of the heat they envisioned getting from Crosby. That’s a theory gaining steam in NFL circles.
Then there’s the cover. The risk assessment for Crosby, 28, involved projecting how well his knee will hold up in future years.
Take stock of what Crosby’s surgeon, Neal ElAttrache, told ESPN:
“We respect the work of the Ravens staff with Maxx regarding the contract physical exam. We also understand the challenge the staff faces when tasked to provide a future risk assessment based on an evaluation early in the recovery process. The timing of this assessment is unfortunate because the apparent risk will lessen as his recovery progresses and his return to performance over the next few months becomes clear.”
Why didn’t the Ravens wait before offering such an enticing package to land Crosby? Had they held off until closer to the draft in late April, Crosby would have been further along with his rehab, as ElAttrache alluded to. By then, however, some other team might have swung a deal.
That’s where the desperation seemingly inspired their actions. Desperate to land a premier defender, the Ravens were willing…until a less-risky option emerged with Hendrickson.
Whether that ultimately proves to be the right decision will be revealed in time.
Contact Bell at jbell@usatoday.com or follow on X: @JarrettBell