Worst Contract In The NFL? Maxx Crosby Had A Career High 28 TFLs Last Season And The Numbers Disagree
He led the NFL in tackles for loss, made his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl, and is recovering from meniscus surgery to be ready for training camp. The $35.5 million cap hit people call a problem is looking less like a problem every week.
Maxx Crosby signed a three-year, $106.5 million extension with the Las Vegas Raiders in March 2025, with $91.5 million guaranteed and an average annual value of $35.5 million. Within nine months, the Raiders had gone 3-14, tried to trade him to Baltimore for two first-round picks, watched that deal collapse over injury concerns, and placed him on injured reserve with a torn meniscus. The narrative around the contract shifted fast. Overpaid. Too expensive for a rebuilding team. Worst contract in football.
The counter-argument is the performance. Crosby finished the 2025 season with a career-high 28 tackles for loss despite playing through a knee injury that ultimately required surgery in January. He added 10 sacks in 15 games before the Raiders shut him down for the final two weeks, a decision he vehemently disagreed with and which led to him leaving the facility. In five consecutive Pro Bowl seasons, his tackles for loss total has led the NFL three times.
The Contract in Context
The criticism of the deal centres on fit rather than production. The Raiders are rebuilding around Fernando Mendoza, the presumptive first overall pick in the 2026 Draft, and paying a 28-year-old edge rusher $35.5 million annually is a complicated proposition when the team is years away from contention. Crosby made his frustration clear: "I want to be the face of winning," he said after signing the extension. A 3-14 season made that statement look prophetic.
The Ravens offered two first-round picks to solve the problem. Baltimore backed out after concerns about the meniscus, and Crosby returned to Las Vegas with the trade saga officially over. He told reporters it was water under the bridge and that he was focused on being ready for training camp in July.
What He Is Actually Worth
At $35.79 million in cap space for 2026, Crosby is expensive. At 28 years old with 69.5 career sacks, five straight Pro Bowls and the best tackles-for-loss rate of any active defender in the league, he is also one of the three or four most disruptive defensive players in football. The contract looks different depending entirely on whether the Raiders build a winner around him. That is a front office question, not a Maxx Crosby one.