Post-mortems on the NFL combine are being delivered by multiple outlets, and the Las Vegas Raiders are right in the middle of all the speculation. There’s a lot of it, too, with new rumors surfacing or being made up on a near-daily basis.
Start with Ben Volin of the Boston Globe, who delivered what he called a “translation” of GM John Spytek’s comments about defensive end Maxx Crosby. Spytek said all sorts of things that landed somewhere between baffling and misleading, so Volin offered a helpful, one-sentence summary of what the GM really meant when he said “I do, yes” when he was asked if Crosby would still be a Raider in 2026:
“Let the bidding begin.”
This is probably accurate, given the number of twists and turns we’ve seen in Crosby’s prospective future in Las Vegas or beyond lately. According to Volin, Spytek’s answers to questions were “short, lacked specifics, and easy to walk back in the future.”
Most of the details are familiar by now. Crosby is 29, he’s entering the final year of his contract, and Volin says he’ll want a new deal paying top-dollar, which will be $46 million a year, although there are other reports out there that Crosby won’t be seeking to reset the market.
The current asking price for Mad Maxx has the Raiders getting a first-round draft pick, two first-rounders, or two first -ounders plus a good position player, with the last being the haul the Dallas Cowboys got for edge rusher Micah Parsons. Volin’s take on that was that if the Raiders can get a first-rounder for Crosby, they should make the deal.
Even more intriguing, the writer mentioned the Detroit Lions as a team to watch in the Crosby sweepstakes.
Meanwhile, over at ESPN, Dan Graziano says there may be what he calls a “sneaky market” for quarterback Geno Smith. There are teams that want to watch his tape, Graziano added, thinking that Smith may have been held back by the Raiders’ offensive system, not to mention the offensive line that got Smith beat up on a weekly basis.
The Raiders are also telling people they don’t want to play a rookie quarterback in Week 1, assuming they draft Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza, so they may hang onto Smith because they have to pay him regardless. If they do part ways, Graziano suggested, there will be interest in Smith.