Last week I discussed the mechanisms and considerations the Bucs would need to go through to acquire Raiders Pro Bowl edge rusher Maxx Crosby in a trade in the offseason. There was a report at the time from Fox Insider Jay Glazer that prompted the possibility that Crosby could be available, as he was not happy with how the team shut him down at the end of a season that was going nowhere.

Since then, the rumors around the possibility Crosby and Las Vegas are headed to a divorce have gotten louder. Dianna Russini of The Athletic has recently reported that the Raiders may now be open to moving on from the Pro Bowler – something they have been unwilling to do until this point.

But if they did want to trade their best player it would be complicated. What I didn’t look at in last week’s article, was the Raiders’ side of things. And that is an interesting dive.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and Raiders DE Maxx Crosby – Photo by: USA Today

The NFL Spending Floor And How It Relates To Maxx Crosby

The current Collective Bargaining Agreement that the NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed to has a stipulation that all teams have to spend at least 90% of the 2024-2026 combined salary caps. The 2024 and 2025 salary caps are a combined $534.6 million. Assuming the 2026 cap comes in at $305 million – where I currently have it pegged – the combined cap for the three years would be $839.6 million. NFL teams would need to spend $755.64 million in cash over those three years.

The Raiders have spent around $495 million between 2024 and 2025. They will need to spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $260-265 million next year to ensure they hit that spending floor. But as of right now, they have very little in the way of talented players to spend money on. Only three of their players under contract next year are due more than $10 million in cash. One of those players is Pro Bowl defensive end Maxx Crosby, who is due just under $30.8 million is by far their highest paid player.

As of right now Las Vegas only has $140 million in cash commitments to players under contract for 2026. That means the Raiders will need to spend $125 million or so in cash on free agents or extensions. Even with the No. 1 overall pick, their draft class should cost about $60 million in cash. That leaves another $65 million that Las Vegas has to spend. Getting rid of Crosby via a trade would mean that the team has to pay out an additional $30.8 million on top of that $65 million.

The Raiders’ Spending Options

Extend Young Talent

Many teams would look to their 2023 draft class for some early extensions. It helps them lock in young talent – often at a discount – while helping teams spread larger cash flows over more years. For the Raiders, it would also help them improve spending.

But here is the Raiders’ 2023 draft class.

• 1st Round – DL Tyree Wilson
• 2nd Round – TE Michael Mayer
• 3rd Round – DL Byron Young
• 3rd Round – WR Tre Tucker
• 4th Round – QB Aidan O’Connell
• 5th Round – DB Jakorian Bennett
• 6th Round – DB Christopher Smith
• 7th Round – LB Amari Burney
• 7th Round – DL Nesta Jade Silvera

The class as a whole has been a bust with no obvious extension candidates. In his third NFL season, and on a bad team, Wilson is a rotational player and not part of the starting lineup. He has 10 career sacks and has been a disappointment. Mayer was rumored to be on the trading block prior to the 2025 season. An extension for him would be a complete about-face in how the new leadership, helmed by general manager John Spytek, feels about him.

Young and Bennett are both Eagles now and Smith is a Jet. Burney and Silvera are not in the league anymore.

O’Connell has had a few opportunities to get starts and has shown just enough to prove he is not a starting quarterback. If Vegas wants to extend him, it would be because they see long-term value in him as a backup. But even if they make that move it would be for a marginal amount of cash.

Tucker has been decent pickup, but even the rosiest of estimates he would get about $14 million per year on an extension.

Bucs GM Jason Licht and assistant GM John Spytek – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

Free Agency

This leaves free agency as the most likely path for the Raiders to get spend the $65 million to get to the spending floor – and that’s with Maxx Crosby still on payroll and on the roster. This isn’t an impossible task, but this class is not great and lacks premium talent at the top. They can try and pick up several mid-tier options to turn a large portion of their roster – something that their roster could use – but it’s still not great process to overspend on external free agents en masse.

And all of this is working under the supposition that Las Vegas keeps Crosby. If they move on from their star pass rusher, the $65 million they would have to spend increases to over $95 million. That’s a difficult proposition. And that alone could preclude them from being able to move on from Mad Maxx.

One Possible Solution For The Bucs

If the relationship between Maxx Crosby and the team has soured to the point that the two sides need to move on from each other, there is one mechanism Las Vegas can employ to help them ship him off while still using his contract to help them hit their spending thresholds. They could payout the majority of Crosby’s 2026 salary in the form of a bonus before trading him away. That payment would count towards their spending goal while making Crosby a more desirable trade target for other teams.

After all, what’s better than Maxx Crosby? Maxx Crosby at a near league minimum salary.

Bucs QB Baker Mayfield and Raiders DE Maxx Crosby – Photo by: USA Today

Now if they take this approach they would require even more in draft compensation from the team that trades for him. While I have Crosby valued at two first-round picks with his current cashflows, if he were to come with a league minimum 2026 salary it would likely take an additional third-round pick to get the Raiders to let him go.

That would be a very attractive opportunity for the Bucs, who may have some difficulty fitting his $30.8 million salary into their own cash budget for 2026 unless the Glazers decide to approve a temporary spending increase over their normal mandate for the football operations group to keep spending tied to the salary cap.

It’s a creative solution to an interesting problem. One that would have obvious pros for a potential suitor like the Bucs (less cash requirements), while creating other complications (larger draft compensation lay out for a team that loves its draft resources) that must be considered.