Maxx Crosby trade: Tom Brady wouldn't send star to Patriots, per report

With friends like Las Vegas Raiders minority owner Tom Brady, who needs enemies? Brady and the Raiders recently traded star pass rusher Maxx Crosby to the Baltimore Ravens. But one team wasn’t in the mix — the New England Patriots.

Brady won six titles as quarterback in New England. Not only that, he won three of them with the current Patriots head coach, Mike Vrabel. Despite all that, his old team never had a fighting chance, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.

“One person involved in the trade made an interesting point about the Patriots’ chances at Crosby: ‘No way Tom [Brady] was sending Maxx to [Mike] Vrabel,” Fowler said in his Sunday free agency buzz column.

Two things have been true since the three-time MVP retired in 2023. His fingerprints have been all over the Raiders organization after joining in 2024. He and the Patriots enjoy a mostly loving relationship with a dab of antagonism.

Patriots fans were miffed after Brady refused to root for them in the Super Bowl, specifically saying he had no dog in the fight. But, the organization retired his jersey and built him a statue. He’s also been at the center of the Maxx Crosby trade rumors.

Crosby reportedly told Brady that he’d never play for the Raiders again.

Considering Brady’s Patriots and Raiders ties, you’d assume that would help facilitate a trade of this magnitude. Think Boston Celtics legend Kevin McHale sending Kevin Garnett to Beantown when he ran the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Instead, Brady seems to have kept Crosby away from his former team.

Certainly, the Patriots could use some added pass rush. They ranked 26th in sacks and 30th in hurries for the 2025 season. Linebackers Harold Landry and K’Lavon Chaisson led the team in sacks with 8.5 and 7.5, respectively. More importantly, the Patriots were in the bottom ten in pressure rate.

For reference, Crosby had 10 sacks along with 20 quarterback hits last season.

Would the Patriots have been able to beat the Ravens’ two first-round pick offer? Who knows. The Cowboys were unwilling to pony up the extra first-rounder. They were only willing to give up a first-round and second-round pick. And considering how their offense sputtered in the playoffs, the Patriots may be focused on upgrading quarterback Drake Maye‘s weapons. Pass rush or not, the Patriots’ defense excelled in last year’s postseason.

Either way, thanks to Brady, the NFL world will never know how desperate or not desperate the Patriots would have been to land Crosby.