Nobody Is More Happy About Raiders' Crosby Trade Than This AFC West HC

No matter what side of the fence you’re on regarding the Las Vegas Raiders trading star defensive end Maxx Crosby to the Baltimore Ravens, the Raiders are in a much better position for its rebuild.

The Raiders sent Crosby to the Ravens in exchange for Baltimore’s 2026 and 2027 first-round picks, which was a stunner to most considering Baltimore wasn’t listed as one of the favorites or frontrunners to land his services.

Crosby moves to a contender and Las Vegas loads up for the next two drafts, becoming one of five teams with two first-rounders in 2026 and 2027. The Raiders wanted to build through the draft, and they are now well-positioned to do so.

In the short-term, losing Crosby obviously hurts the Raiders and how well the defense will play without his All-Pro presence, but the organization is in a healthier spot long-term.

Moving Crosby freed up nearly $31 million and the Raiders now have around $120 million to spend in free agency, a lot of which it will probably spend on upgrading the interior offensive line to ensure Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza has a productive first season in the National Football League.

A lot of fans will take this trade hard and Crosby obviously meant a ton to Raiders fans and the franchise, but those fans also understand that a complete teardown was needed, which meant moving on from Crosby. Those same fans will be excited about the future of this team moving forward, but probably the happiest person to see Crosby leave the Raiders is Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton.

Payton called Fox NFL insider Jay Glazer with pure excitement that Crosby is no longer in the American Football Conference West division and even texted Crosby about it.

“Sean Payton called me soooo fired up the Raiders traded Maxx Crosby and even just texted Maxx saying he’s offering to pay a private plane one-way flight to Baltimore, happy to see him out of the division. Funny,” Glazer wrote in an X post Saturday.

Glazer noted that Payton followed that up by telling Crosby that he’s “an inspiration to watch and compete against.”

“Payton has long raved about how Maxx never slows down during games,” Glazer added.

It makes a lot of sense as to why Payton, and probably the other AFC West coaches, are thrilled Crosby will be joining the AFC North. In Payton’s defense, Crosby has 16.5 career sacks against the Broncos, the most against any team.

That’s a fun way of showing respect to a generational Raider who has tormented his team in recent years.