NFL free agency fallout: Maxx Crosby, Shedeur Sanders among winners, losers

NFL free agency continues to roll on, but there are some clear winners and losers from the first wave. Who stood out from the pack?

The NFL free agent market officially opened March 11. Now? It pretty much looks like it’s been raided by hurricane preppers right before landfall.

And maybe that’s an appropriate metaphor given the way the league has been upended in recent days – particularly so in the wake of the figurative storm generated by the now-infamous Maxx Crosby trade that was arranged but never consummated by the Baltimore Ravens and Las Vegas Raiders … never consummated by the Ravens anyway. That was far and away the biggest story in a frenzied few days of constant developments – pending free agents entering into negotiations on Monday, while the Crosby trade and others were framed up last week.

So now? Let’s sort through the aftermath as we declare this year’s free agency winners and losers:

You have to feel for the guy. He’s still injured, two months out from meniscus surgery. Yet he now carries the stigma of a failed physical from the Ravens, that after being offloaded by the Raiders – a wayward organization Crosby had been fiercely loyal to and taken unabashed pride in ever since former GM Mike Mayock made him a fourth-round pick in 2019. It had to be a 100-hour emotional roller coaster for Crosby, one of the league’s very best players kicked to the curb twice in that span, sandwiched around the hope he might finally play for a contender. But he vowed anew “Im (sic) A Raider” in a social media post late Wednesday night. For how long? Who’s to say. The NFL, man – almost strictly business.

The team and its general manager took a big swing – check swing? – on Crosby, the first player the 30-year-old organization had ever attempted to acquire with first-round draft capital, and DeCosta had committed to spending this year’s Round 1 selection and next year’s. Until he didn't. It all fell apart Tuesday night, when the Raiders announced the Ravens had stunningly “backed out” of the trade. DeCosta, seemingly trying to govern his emotions, said Wednesday that he was “gutted” by the decision but was simply acting in the franchise’s best interests. In the meantime, several of his best players walked out the door – Pro Bowl C Tyler Linderbaum notably defecting to the Raiders and TE Isaiah Likely reuniting with former Ravens coach John Harbaugh in New York – while DeCosta was left in scramble mode, signing DE Trey Hendrickson, something of a Crosby-lite, on Wednesday. History will eventually judge the Crosby non-trade, but DeCosta may also have to repair his reputation among his peers, to some degree, in the meantime.