A Dallas Cowboys insider proposed a bold trade scenario involving Maxx Crosby that might leave Las Vegas Raiders fans wondering if they would agree to the deal.
Bryan Broaddus’s idea is simple on paper: a first-round pick and George Pickens for Crosby. It sounds bold in a radio hit. It sounds reckless on a whiteboard. That gap is worth examining. It exposes what Dallas would actually be trading away: a 24-year-old ascending receiver on a manageable tag. In return, Dallas would get a 28-year-old pass rusher who failed a physical months ago. That failed physical was serious enough to sink a deal with the Baltimore Ravens.
Start with the medical variable. It’s not a footnote. The Ravens walked away from Crosby over knee concerns, not the asking price. Any team revisiting a trade for him inherits that same risk. No team should value him at 2025 levels without a clean bill of health first. Jerry Jones has built a career on bold swings. But even he would need his medical staff’s sign-off before surrendering a top-tier receiver.
Would Jerry Jones take a swing for Maxx Crosby?
Then there’s the roster math. Pickens produced at an All-Pro level in his first season in Dallas and gives Dak Prescott a legitimate second outside threat alongside CeeDee Lamb. Trading him doesn’t just create a hole; it forces Dallas into the 2027 receiver market at a moment when the draft’s marquee name, Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith, will be long gone by the time Dallas picks. Replacing Pickens with a projected rookie is a downgrade dressed up as a plan.
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The defensive argument is real, but incomplete. Dallas already has developing pieces in Malachi Lawrence, Rashan Gary and Donovan Ezeiruaku, none of whom have been given a full season under new coordinator Christian Parker to show what the scheme can produce. Trading for Crosby before that answer arrives assumes the young talent will fail, rather than testing whether it succeeds.
There’s also the financial layer. Pickens’ long-term price, especially alongside Lamb, was already a question mark for a franchise with well-documented cap discipline. Trading him for Crosby doesn’t solve that problem; it simply replaces a receiver-market bill with a $30 million pass-rusher salary and answers nothing about who plays receiver in 2027.
Maxx Crosby is undoubtedly an elite defender, but this proposal requires the Cowboys to create one problem in order to solve another, which poses a significant risk. For the Raiders, this trade would provide Kirk Cousins and Fernando Mendoza with a legitimate No. 1 wide receiver. It’s a deal that merits consideration, if nothing else.
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