It always seemed like a long shot, but the Jacksonville Jaguars had a slim chance to bolster their pass rush by trading for Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby. The biggest hurdle to acquiring the five-time Pro Bowl nod was always the compensation to get a deal done.
The Raiders would rather hold onto Crosby but could reportedly trade him in return for a pair of first-round picks and a player. That kind of compensation would leave Jacksonville without enough resources to address other needs.
But even if the Jaguars were interested in making a bid for Crosby, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated just threw a bucket of cold water on the possibility.
The Jaguars aren't among the teams in the mix for Maxx Crosby
Albert Breer reported what he heard at the scouting combine. He said that he's learning toward a Maxx Crosby trade happening, with the caveat that it won't come cheap.
"Vegas, to be sure, isn't going to give Crosby away," Beer wrote. "I also believe, though, that it'd be difficult to find the haul that the Raiders got for Khalil Mack eight years ago, or what Dallas got for Micah Parsons last year, or what the Dolphins received for Laremy Tunsil in 2019. All of those guys were traded for packages fronted by two first-round picks. All of those guys were also much younger, nearing the end of their rookie deals."
Later in his column, Breer identified the Dallas Cowboys, the Chicago Bears, the Baltimore Ravens, the Buffalo Bills, the New England Patriots, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Los Angeles Rams as potential suitors for Crosby.
If you're following closely, you can see that Jacksonville didn't make the list. In fact, the Bears are quickly becoming the betting favorite to land the former East Michigan Eagle.
A fourth-round pick by the Raiders in 2019, Crosby is one of the premier pass rushers in the NFL, registering 69.5 sacks the past seven seasons. That would make him a hot commodity if Las Vegas placed him on the trade block.
The Jaguars need to bolster their pass rush, which is why the idea of pursuing Crosby was floated around to begin with. That said, it was always going to be hard for them to pull it off.
While Crosby's contract — he has annual cap hits of around $29 million through 2028 — is manageable, Jacksonville is $15.9 million over the cap, so the front office would need to resort to creative accounting to fit him in the budget.
Compounding the issue is that the Jags traded their 2026 first-round pick when they moved up to select two-way star Travis Hunter last year. Simply put, they probably don't have the ammo to acquire Crosby.
The Jaguars have options to fix the pass rush beyond Maxx Crosby
The good news is that this year's draft class is stacked with pass-rush talent. Daniel Jeremiah of NFL Media had 10 pass rushers in the top 50 of his big board, and identified several intriguing prospects beyond that group.
And if Jacksonville wants to use its draft picks to address other needs, it can target Arnold Ebiketie or K'Lavon Chaison in free agency. Neither will be cost-prohibitive, and either one could round out the rotation behind Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen.
This is a long-winded way to say that the Jaguars probably don't care that they're not part of the Maxx Crosby sweepstakes, as they have other ways to turbocharge the pass rush.