It may be the NFL’s “offseason,” but the league is nonetheless providing suspense, surprise and dramatics like it’s a Sunday in November.
In the span of five days, the Baltimore Ravens …
– Made the biggest splash of the month in trading two first-round draft picks to the Las Vegas Raiders for star edge rusher Maxx Crosby on Saturday.
– Made even bigger headlines Tuesday night in reneging on that deal due to concerns raised by Crosby’s physical exam, related to his surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee.
– And by Wednesday morning had pivoted to signing the biggest edge rusher on the free agent market, agreeing to a four-year, $112-million contract with former Cincinnati Bengals star Trey Hendrickson. Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the deal that can be worth up to $120 million with incentives, includes $60 million fully guaranteed and a $20 million signing bonus.
– All the while, upsetting the Raiders, of course, and apparently others around the league, with unnamed general managers questioning their intentions. Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer reported this:
“I talked to three GMs who believed that the root of all this was the Ravens getting cold feet — and that Baltimore had to have the information, everyone knew about the knee, and it was pretty unlikely that any disqualifying surprise surfaced during the physical. The Ravens’ folks I subsequently spoke with vehemently denied that. Regardless, some suspicion will be cast on that organization moving forward. And so Baltimore’s next moves will be critical, because now everyone will be watching to see if anything underhanded is afoot.”
You’re telling me the NFC South in September delivers more intrigue than this?!
How Trey Hendrickson Landed With The Ravens
Ultimately, the Ravens end up in a fairly similar spot in addressing their primary offseason priority — but with their 2026 and 2027 first-round picks back — while it’s the Raiders and Crosby that have to recover and figure out how to move forward.
That said, if the Ravens thought Hendrickson was at the same level of Crosby all along, then they would have never traded two first-round picks in the first place for the Raiders star — who makes even more per year on his current three-year, $106.5-million contract.
So this is clearly a Plan B for Baltimore — but a solid one.
Hendrickson is a few years older and will turn 32 in December. He’s also coming off a major injury/surgery after being limited to seven games last season by a hip/pelvis injury that required “core muscle surgery.”
Before that, though, Hendrickson had posted back-to-back 17.5-sack seasons, leading the NFL in 2024 and finishing second in defensive player of the year voting. He has 81 career sacks, 163 QB hits and 15 forced fumbles in a nine-year career split between the New Orleans Saints and Bengals.
Hendrickson And Crosby Will Not Avoid The Comparisons
Hendrickson was still available on the third day of free agency because other teams reportedly hadn’t yet been willing to meet his asking price, which is another reflection perhaps of how he’s viewed relative to Crosby.
Those two will be inextricably linked moving forward — at least through this 2026 season as their performances are compared and the “what-if’s” evaluated.
But Baltimore will also factor into that equation what it gets from the No. 14 overall pick in the upcoming draft that it now retains (along with its 2027 first-round pick).
It’s certainly possible the Ravens are better off here, and that’s perhaps what is raising suspicions about what played out.
Let’s say, for instance, that Hendrickson had signed with another team on Monday along with most of the rest of the high-profile free agents. Does Baltimore still back out of the Crosby trade Tuesday if it doesn’t have the same logical pivot move to make?
It’s fair to wonder.
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