Eastern Michigan Professional Athletes

Maxx Crosby Is Exactly Where He Wants to Be — and the NFL Knows It

Eastern Michigan's most famous alumni export spent the summer at the center of a league-wide bidding war. By Week 2, Maxx Crosby had made his answer clear: Las Vegas, full stop.

The Raiders defensive end crossed 70 career NFL sacks in Week 1, recording a sack in Las Vegas's 27-13 demolition of the Miami Dolphins at Allegiant Stadium — a win that saw the Raiders defense hold Miami scoreless for two of four quarters and rack up five total sacks. Crosby played 45 snaps, earning a 90.5 grade from Pro Football Focus, and quickly reminded anyone who needed reminding that the torn meniscus he suffered last season left no lasting damage.

The Trade Circus That Wasn't

The offseason storyline surrounding Crosby rivaled anything happening on the field. A reported trade to the Baltimore Ravens collapsed before it was consummated. The Los Angeles Rams — desperate for pass-rush help after signing Myles Garrett only to watch him go down with a knee injury requiring surgery — made a strenuous run at Crosby as their preferred alternative. The Cowboys received intel from Eagles trade chatter. The Bears had a former Chiefs All-Pro publicly urging Chicago's front office to get a deal done.

None of it landed. According to reports from Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Crosby told teams directly that he no longer wanted to be traded after the Ravens deal fell apart. Sports Illustrated reported that Crosby told teams he was done pursuing an exit — a stance that effectively torpedoed the Cowboys' chances of pulling off a blockbuster deadline deal. The Sporting News confirmed the Rams had Crosby atop their wish list before pivoting to Garrett.

Crosby's own words reinforced the posture. He opened up publicly about calling it the craziest offseason of his NFL career, while Sports Illustrated detailed how the failed trade to Baltimore became a clarifying moment — one that left the EMU product describing himself as "born to be a Raider."

What Week 2 Looks Like

The trade noise hasn't fully quieted — the November 10 deadline ensures it won't — but the on-field product is giving Las Vegas every reason to keep Crosby in silver and black. The Raiders enter Week 2 at 1-0, and their Week 2 opponent, the Los Angeles Chargers, is already bracing. Head coach Mike McDaniel quipped that it "would be cool" if Crosby "wanted to take a nap" during the matchup, while Jim Harbaugh issued his own sober pregame assessment of what facing the Eastern Michigan product means for any offensive line.

For Raiders fans and EMU alumni alike, the picture heading into the week is straightforward: Crosby at 70-plus career sacks, healthy, motivated, and not going anywhere. The league spent a summer trying to acquire him. He chose to stay home.

Maxx Crosby: Still a Raider, Still the Most Talked-About Player Not on a Roster Bubble

Eastern Michigan's most prominent NFL export can't seem to escape the rumor mill — and at this point, the rumor mill might be following him.

Maxx Crosby, the Raiders' edge rusher, entered the final stretch of the 2026 preseason as the most discussed non-quarterback in the NFL trade market. The Cowboys have been the loudest suitor, with multiple analysts predicting a blockbuster deal that would send Crosby to Dallas before or during the regular season. But the Cowboys are far from alone: the 49ers have been handed a pointed message to get in the race, and the Eagles — linked to Crosby throughout the 2025 season — have also lurked in the background.

The saga nearly resolved itself in March, when the Baltimore Ravens agreed to acquire Crosby only to back out of the deal at the last minute. That whiplash reset the market, and with the Raiders in a recognized rebuild under first-year head coach Klint Kubiak, the calculus around Crosby's future has only grown more complicated. One analyst predicted Las Vegas could extract a bigger haul than the Ravens deal would have yielded — citing the Cowboys' desperation and the precedent set by the Rashan Gary trade as comparable leverage.

What's not in dispute: Crosby remains elite and, apparently, combustible. Kubiak held him out of a Raiders practice in early August after a fight with quarterback Kirk Cousins — a notable moment that underscored the coach's message that no one, not even his franchise cornerstone, is above team standards. Whether that friction signals looming dysfunction or simply a hard-nosed camp culture remains to be seen.

Kwity Paye Adds Stakes to the Defensive Equation

The intrigue around Crosby's future is further layered by what the Raiders built around him. Kwity Paye, who signed a high-profile $48 million deal this offseason, is being counted on as Crosby's complement on the defensive front — described as an equal-parts sack artist and run stuffer capable of taking pressure off Las Vegas's marquee pass rusher. If Crosby is traded, that investment looks dramatically different. If he stays, the Raiders could have one of the more formidable edge duos in the AFC. Paye is not an EMU alum, but his ascension directly shapes the professional fate of one who is.

Thomas Odukoya Catches on With Chiefs

Away from the Crosby vortex, another Eastern Michigan product made a quiet but meaningful move this week. Tight end Thomas Odukoya — a 6-foot-6 native of the Netherlands who spent time on the Patriots' 2025 practice squad — signed with the Kansas City Chiefs' practice squad on September 5, following a successful workout. The Chiefs, perennial AFC contenders, represent a significant opportunity for Odukoya to develop within a proven organization heading into the season opener.

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The headline story remains Crosby, whose situation will likely define the early weeks of the 2026 NFL season regardless of how it resolves. For Eastern Michigan fans, the question isn't whether their most famous alum is good enough for the league's biggest stages — it's which stage he'll be performing on when the games actually count.

Eastern Michigan Alumni Report | NFL | Aug. 23–29, 2026

Maxx Crosby's name isn't just appearing in box scores anymore — it's dominating trade wire conversations, and not by his choosing.

The Eastern Michigan product and Raiders defensive end finds himself at the center of a growing storyline: Dallas Cowboys fans and analysts have floated Crosby as a prime trade target, with speculation intensifying in the wake of Ashton Jeanty's ankle injury shifting Las Vegas's outlook for the season. The thinking goes that a Raiders squad suddenly less optimistic about its 2026 ceiling might be more willing to move a marquee asset — and Crosby, one of the most disruptive pass rushers in football, would command elite value on any contender's market.

There's a significant caveat worth noting: according to The Sporting News, current evidence of an actual deal points only to outside discussion. No formal trade talks have been reported between the Raiders and Cowboys organizations. This remains, for now, a storyline being driven by observers rather than front offices. But in a league where trade rumors have a way of becoming self-fulfilling, the noise alone matters.

The broader cloud over Crosby's Raiders tenure is reinforced by a separate analysis from The Sporting News, which ranked Las Vegas among the lower-tier franchises entering the season despite Crosby's presence and Kirk Cousins's arrival at quarterback. One NFL analyst's read: that pairing simply isn't compelling enough to move the needle. That kind of institutional pessimism surrounding the franchise only adds weight to the question of whether Crosby — entering what should be a prime window of his career — is best served staying put.

For an Eastern Michigan program that rarely produces household NFL names, Crosby has always been the exception. A fifth-round pick who carved out Pro Bowl recognition through relentless motor and elite technique, he represents the high-water mark of Eagles football at the professional level. The prospect of him suiting up in a Cowboys uniform — or any non-Raiders jersey — would mark a significant chapter in both his career and the EMU alumni story in the league.

No other Eastern Michigan alumni generated notable headlines during this stretch. Sidy Sow (Texans), Andrew Wylie (Commanders), and Pat O'Connor (Lions) remain active on their respective rosters in non-featured roles, while Brian Dooley, Thomas Odukoya, and the rest of the EMU contingent continue their work in training camp and preseason evaluation periods.

The Crosby situation is worth watching closely. Whether or not Dallas ever makes a formal push, the fact that his name keeps surfacing in trade conversations is a signal — about the Raiders' trajectory, about Crosby's value, and potentially about what comes next for Eastern Michigan's most prominent NFL export.