The rest of the teams that at any point had hopes of landing elite defensive end Maxx Crosby via trade from the Las Vegas Raiders now have to set their sights elsewhere after the Baltimore Ravens gave up two first-round picks for the five-time Pro Bowl pass rusher.
That brings us to free agent edge rusher Odafe Oweh, who vaulted his value at just the right time.
The Los Angeles Chargers acquired Oweh in an early-season trade with the Ravens last year, and he went on a tear with 7.5 sacks in the final 12 games plus 3 more in the team’s lone playoff game.
The Chargers elected not to use the expensive franchise tag on Oweh, so he’s now one of the most intriguing targets as NFL free agency starts this week. Teams can begin negotiating with players Monday, while contracts can’t be signed or announced until the start of the new league year Wednesday.
The 6-foot-5, 251-pound Oweh, the 31st overall pick in the 2021 draft by the Ravens out of Penn State, has 30.5 career sacks, 79 QB hits, 176 tackles and 7 forced fumbles over five NFL seasons, including a career-high 10 sacks in 2024.
Many initially connected the dots and suggested Oweh could be ticketed back to Baltimore with former Chargers defensive coordinator Jesse Minter becoming the Ravens head coach.
But that seems unlikely now with the Ravens facing a tighter free agent budget and addressing their primary need on the edge with the addition of Crosby.
Potential Landing Spots For Free Agent Odafe Oweh
Here are a few more logical potential landing spots for Oweh.
Los Angeles Chargers
The Chargers just re-signed fellow pass rusher Khalil Mack to a one-year deal, and NFL insider Ian Rapoport noted that the team is also interested in re-signing Oweh as well.
Even with Minter moving on and Chris O’Leary coming in as the team’s new defensive coordinator, Oweh may feel a pull to stay in a place where he just had the best stretch of his career.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers are expected to be priority upgrading on the edge, whether through the draft or free agency. YaYa Diaby led the team in 2025 with 7.0 sacks while no other edge rusher on the team had more than 3.0 sacks.
Head coach Todd Bowles is going to be on the hot seat in 2026 if he can’t get the Bucs back to the playoffs and turn the team into a contender. He’s a defensive-minded coach who could pitch a compelling plan to Oweh in making him a cornerstone of the team’s defense moving forward.
Cincinnati Bengals
The Bengals are losing star pass rusher Trey Hendrickson to free agency while fellow defensive end Joseph Ossai is also a free agent.
If the Bengals want to keep star QB Joe Burrow happy and in town for much longer, they absolutely need to be aggressive in rebuilding a defense that ranked 31st in the league in yards allowed (380.9 per game) and 30th in scoring (28.9 PPG). Cincinnati also ranked bottom third in the league in sacks (35) and is now potentially losing two of its top edge rushers.
Pursuing Oweh should be high on the team’s priority list.
Washington Commanders
The Commanders actually ranked dead last in the NFL in total defense (384.0 YPG) as everything went wrong after a surprise run to the NFC championship game the previous year.
A lot of that had to do with second-year QB Jayden Daniels’ injuries, but head coach Dan Quinn’s defense tanking wasn’t on the team’s preseason bingo board either.
Of Washington’s top three sack leaders last year, veteran Von Miller and Jacob Martin are now free agents and Dorance Armstrong is working back from a season-ending knee injury. Signing a young, proven edge rusher is absolutely a priority for the Commanders heading into free agency.
Las Vegas Raiders
They did just lose their star edge rusher in dealing Crosby to the Ravens.
Las Vegas has plenty of needs to address with its extra draft capital — it could seek to find Crosby’s replacement in free agency and make a run at Oweh.
Oweh may prefer to sign with a contender, but the Raiders have freed up a ton of money to spend in free agency and could simply outbid other teams for priority targets.
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