Silver And Black Pride
The post-June 1 deadline has passed, and the month got started with a bang for the NFL with arguably the best player in the league, Myles Garrett, getting traded to the Los Angeles Rams right before A.J. Brown was officially sent to the New England Patriots. We’re touching on how that impacts the Las Vegas Raiders, who wrapped up OTAs this week and have mandatory minicamp on Tuesday, for this week’s mailbag.
Q: After seeing what the Browns got for Myles Garrett, will Maxx Crosby be back on the trade block? And do you see any teams making a similar offer that the Rams made?
A: Crosby’s knee is the big factor that I think prevents a trade getting done or at least with compensation that the Raiders are looking for, and it doesn’t help that he still isn’t cleared for practice yet. Plus, he doesn’t seem to want to leave anymore and I don’t get the feeling that the front office was ever that interested in moving on from him, unless another team was willing to meet the high price tag.
So, I don’t think Garrett getting dealt puts Crosby back on the trade block, and it feels like an in-season trade near the deadline is more likely, if he’s going to get traded.
As far as another team making Las Vegas a similar offer to what Cleveland received for Garrett, as mentioned above, Garrett’s in the “best player in the NFL” conversation and, in my opinion, he’s the best pass-rusher in NFL history. Crosby isn’t in that category, meaning no other club is offering first-, second- and third-round picks plus a former first-round pick (Jared Verse) who is worth at least another first and probably even more.
However, this does help give John Spytek more leverage. Again, the two players aren’t the same caliber, but Spytek can point to the Garrett trade and say that two first-round picks isn’t such a bad deal for a quality edge-rusher since someone at the position just got dealt for three Top 100 selections and a 25-year-old who has made Pro Bowls in each of his first two seasons and is still under team control for three more years.
Q: Typical per-game defensive snap count for Pola-Mao in 2026?
A: For context, Pola-Mao played nearly 1,100 snaps (about 64 snaps per game) and was on the field 96 percent of the time last season, per Pro Football Reference. My early prediction is that number gets cut in half this season, around 30 per game.
Pola-Mao showed he isn’t a true free safety last season, and Jeremy Chinn is the better option at strong safety. Granted, the Raiders don’t have many options on the backend of the defense, as Treydan Stukes was primarily a nickelback at Arizona. But Stukes does have some experience playing free safety and has the better profile for the position than IPM does, as the rookie is the superior athlete and has the better ball skills of the two....
