Kyle Goon: There are so many reasons the Ravens should trade for Maxx Crosby

I know what the Baltimore Ravens defense needs: another player with his own podcast.

Wait. Hear me out.

For the last few years, the one thing you could credibly say the Ravens defense has been missing — even at its 2023 peak — is an edge rusher who commands an automatic double team. Baltimore has a do-it-all safety in Kyle Hamilton, a tackle-stacking linebacker in Roquan Smith and a stout defensive tackle in Travis Jones (and hopefully one returning in Nnamdi Madubuike). They just added one of the NFL’s most intriguing defensive coaches in Jesse Minter.

How good could the Ravens be with Maxx Crosby? As good as they want to be.

Going off multiple national media reports that the Ravens are interested in trading for him, I have to say that adding Mad Maxx to Baltimore makes too much sense.

Here’s a guy who has 44.5 sacks over his last four seasons, who is turning 29 this summer and should still be in his prime, who carries a reputation for having a fanatical attitude toward competition, even in practice.

As a rookie, The Athletic reported this past week, Crosby used to routinely cross one of the NFL’s most sacred taboos — making contact with quarterbacks wearing red non-contact jerseys in practice, incurring the wrath of his coaches. According to a source who spoke to The Athletic: “His attitude was, ‘If you don’t want me to do it, then block me.’ And nobody was in position to challenge that.”

Hopefully Crosby now knows well enough to keep his own quarterbacks safe — you can’t treat Lamar Jackson this way. But let’s be honest: I’d rather have a player with the screw loose of being overly competitive than the other way around.

Crosby is a dog who never needs to be goaded into playing harder, only let off the leash. A Ravens defense that struggled through injuries last season never quite seemed to possess the relentless energy of the best NFL units.

Just ask the Ravens about what it’s like to try to block Crosby. Back in Week 2 of the 2024 season, Crosby was a one-man game-wrecker that helped Baltimore fall to 0-2 in a stunning loss at M&T Bank Stadium.

Said Jackson of Crosby: “He was just being an impactful player — the high motor guy he was — and he got two sacks today. He was just doing what he was doing.”

This is a guy whose relationship with the Raiders reportedly capsized when the franchise decided to bench him in order to tank for the first overall pick. If I’m general manager Eric DeCosta, I want someone on my team who wants to win at all costs, who can help a rookie head coach implement his defensive vision even faster.

But what about the cost? Reportedly, it could take two first-round draft picks to pry Crosby away from Las Vegas. That’s a steep price to be sure, especially for the Ravens, who have a habit of knocking their first-round picks out of the park. But given the lack of success the franchise has had drafting an edge rusher in recent years, it’s worth taking the calculated risk of packaging a few picks for a guy as good as Crosby.

“If there’s an elite, Hall-of-Fame-type talent that’s available that we think can come in and be — as [owner] Steve [Bisciotti] likes to call them — game-wreckers, we look at that," DeCosta said in January. “We consider that very strongly.”

Crosby is worth that consideration.

His cap hit looks significant at first at around $30 million for the space-strapped Ravens. But through various manipulations, his acquiring team could theoretically convert some of that into a bonus and create more space.

It might put the team at more risk of losing center Tyler Linderbaum, but given that the Ravens haven’t announced an extension just a few days before free agency, that is starting to look like a losing battle anyway.

The upside of trading for Crosby is tremendous. He brings the on-field production the defense needs and the motivated personality that a stagnating locker room needs, too. Even at a high draft compensation price tag, it elevates the Ravens’ ability to win now, giving them the game-changer they’ve needed along the edge for four or five seasons running.

It would be quite the shake-up from how the conservative, cautious Ravens do business. But amid an offseason marked by bold changes, maybe this time the front office would do well to throw caution to the wind.