Maxx Crosby Is Back In Football Purgatory

Look at it this way: Now Maxx Crosby doesn't have to write one of those treacly letters to Las Vegas Raiders fans thanking them for their love and devotion and swearing eternal fealty to them before heading off to work for another fan base that he will learn to love just as much. Now he can just saunter back into the house and act to the neighbors like he never intended to go anywhere at all, no matter what that moving van in front seemed to indicate. In one of the great "How can I miss you when you won't go away" moments of the modern NFL, the Baltimore Ravens backed away from the blockbuster deal they made two days ago to acquire the Raiders' defensive game-wrecker, ostensibly because Crosby's post-surgical knee wasn't healed enough to pass the team's physical but maybe because the Ravens rethought the loss of the two first-round draft choices they had committed to sending Las Vegas in exchange. Because these are the Raiders, we are treated to a fresh round of "Well, of course it's the Raiders. Did you expect it to be normal?" That isn't entirely fair in this case, to be honest, but the circular logic of failure based on past failures is also very much part of the Raider ethos. They have been intrepid, bold, and free-spending in the free agency period which technically starts later this afternoon. The last bit is a mockery of verb tenses that only makes sense in a world in which deadlines are mostly suggestions, but commitments are definitely commitments, and while the contracts aren't official yet the Raiders will now have to fit them into cap space that Crosby's return has tightened significantly.