The NFL world was turned upside down when the Ravens backed out of their deal with the Raiders to acquire pass rusher Maxx Crosby. Baltimore got cold feet and pivoted to Trey Hendrickson after flaking on the Raiders, keeping Crosby in Las Vegas for the time being.
What does any of this have to do with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers? Well, according to Dianna Russini, the Bucs were one of the teams in on Crosby before the Raiders and Ravens agreed to their now infamous trade.
During an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show, before Russini dove into what went down in the now failed Crosby trade, she mentioned that the Buccaneers were one of the teams in the running for the pass rushing phenom. She mentioned that teams spoke with Crosby's doctors and wanted to know what the situation was there.
"Essentially before teams were trading for Maxx Crosby... teams like the Bears, teams like the Tampa Bay Bucs, teams like the Cowboys, New England, even at one point, they spoke to his doctor... They spoke to the Raiders' medical staff."
Dianna Russini says Bucs were talking to Raiders about Maxx Crosby
This isn't necessarily shocking considering how badly the Buccaneers need to address their pass rushing issues. There was a report on Wednesday morning that Tampa was in on Trey Hendrickson, who ultimately signed with the Ravens after the failed trade, but wanted him on a short-term contract. Hendrickson signed for a four-year deal worth $112 million.
Crosby is now back with the Raiders and while the team will probably still be interested in trading him, they might not get the same type of deal Baltimore offered and may opt to keep him instead. But, maybe the Buccaneers will still decide to throw their hat into the ring and still swing for the fences here.
Crosby had 10.0 sacks in 15 games last year and could add a lot of juice to this Tampa pass rush. At the same time, if the asking price is two first-round picks, that's not going to be something Jason Licht will entertain nor should it be.
We'll have to see how the Crosby saga unfolds but it's good to hear that the Buccaneers are at least dipping their feet in the water with these big-time players.