Why Seahawks cannot bail Maxx Crosby out of Las Vegas Raiders prison via trade

The Seattle Seahawks defense is nowhere near as good as 12s hoped for when Mike Macdonald was hired as the new head coach. Macdonald was expected to immediately remedy some issues Seattle's defense has been suffering from for the last several seasons. That includes better run defense and better tackling. Those problems remain.

Part of the issue has been Seattle has been dealing with injuries to key players. Edge rusher Uchenna Nwosu, perhaps the team's most well-rounded outside linebacker heading into the season, has only played in part of one game. Derick Hall has been better in year two and Boye Mafe has been solid again, but Seattle simply has not had the depth of quality they need at edge rusher.

General manager John Schneider might still try to pull off a trade before the NFL's trade deadline on November 5, but he will be limited financially. Seattle does not have enough cap space - the team has $10,697,738 to spend, but that is not enough to bring in a highly paid and highly productive potential trade target. That is too bad because Seattle might otherwise be able to lift a great player of the Raiders who might want out of Las Vegas.

The Seahawks will not be an option if the Raiders trade Maxx Crosby

That player is Maxx Crosby who has watched his team basically fall apart since Week 1. Las Vegas already traded unhappy receiver Davante Adams and is firmly in rebuild mode. According to a recent article by Pro Football Talk, Crosby wants no part of that.

He said, "I’m not here to rebuild, I’m here to win. So, you know, I don’t know. Whatever that means, but yeah I’m here to win now. And wherever I’m gonna be, I’m gonna here to win. So that’s all that matters to me."

Crosby is currently signed through 2026, but there is no way the Seahawks can afford him now or later. Seattle actually has negative cap space currently for 2025, according to Over the Cap. Crosby's cap hit this year is $30,483,250. Clearly, games have been played this season and Crosby has been paid for those, so Seattle won't owe that. Seattle doesn't have the money to afford to add Crosby even with the games that remain.

Next season, Crosby's cap hit is $28,219,25 and the Seahawks would owe about $23 million of that. Again, the team doesn't have the cap space. The bottom line is while Crosby might be happy to go to a team that thinks it can win now, his final destination if he is traded, won't be Seattle.

That is too bad because the Seahawks could certainly use a player who has had 32.5 sacks and 76 quarterback hits over the last three seasons. The edge rusher has also been elite at stopping the run in his career. Unfortunately, 12s will be forced to watch him play well for another team while Seattle struggles to keep its productive edge rushers healthy.

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