Sure, it’s combine week, and we’re all excited to see Caleb Downs and Jacob Rodriguez get in their underwear, run fast, jump high, and do a bunch of different exercises. That’s cool, and we all can’t wait to watch it. But this week is more about what we don’t see.
And what don’t see is every team’s general manager getting drunk at a bar in Indianapolis and setting up trades with other general managers. Then, some reporters linger around, catch wind of that stuff, and rip-start the rumor mill about potential trades that we’ll see during free agency.
These are the high-profile players that we’re going to hear about over the next month, why they could/should be traded, and where they might land.
Maxx Crosby (DE, Raiders)
Maxx Crosby plays almost every single defensive snap, plays them all with the same level of violence and voracity, and is wildly productive.
So here’s the question: If you force him to go on the IR so your team is worse and you get the first overall draft pick, what could go wrong?
Answer: Everything, because now he hates you.
It’s been reported that Crosby said that he’s done with the Raiders, but then he also claimed that he hasn’t said anything yet. Who knows what’s true?Â
Regardless, there are going to be trade requests for him, and the Raiders are going to have to listen to them. He’s an elite player, and his price is potentially franchise-altering (maybe a couple of first-round picks). If that price was negotiable, it’d be due to the way his contract works.Â
If he gets traded, the Raiders only take a hit of $5-ish million, and the other team would have to pay a cool $60 million. That’s a pretty big discrepancy, and teams that have to eat numbers typically try not to pay as much in draft capital.
The Eagles are a team to watch (depending on what they do with Jaelan Phillips). Crosby said that he’s cool with the intensity of fans in Philly, which is big.Â
The Bears desperately need bodies on the defensive line, and Crosby takes the workload of two or three rotational guys.Â
The Bills are not only weak at the edge, but they’re also set up to lose both Joey Bosa and A.J. Epenesa in free agency (those two accounted for 7.5 of the Bills’ 36 sacks).
The Titans have the most cap space (the most money to spend) this offseason. Last year, it was New England, and they spent a whole boatload of it on guys like Milton Williams, Robert Spillane, and Carlton Davis. If the Titans want to make some money moves, they’re able to do it. The only problem is that their 2026 first-round pick is fourth overall. That’s hefty, but it might be enough to only have to trade one first-rounder.
Dexter Lawrence (DT, Giants)
The Giants have an embarrassment of riches on their defensive line. They’ve got Abdul Carter, Kayvon Thibedeaux, Brian Burns, and Dexter Lawrence… and they waaaaaaay underperformed in 2025.Â
Lawrence was probably the one who underperformed the most. He went from getting nine sacks in 2024 to just .5 sack in 2025. It was a very aggressive drop off. That’s not necessarily a reason he should be traded, but it shows that maybe his prolific 2024 was maybe a teensy bit of an outlier (or maybe last season was an outlier, who knows?)
The reason he should be traded is because it would be financially criminal if he weren’t. He signed a four-year deal for $90 million in 2023, and he’s been paid all of his guaranteed money. So if the Giants trade him, they would free up $27-ish million, and they’d probably get a second-round pick out of it. For a team that’s not ready to compete for championships, that’s all too good to pass up.
Almost every team could use a defensive tackle with elite run-stuffing, double-team-eating, and pass-rushing upside.Â
Bleacher Report’s Alex Ballentine thinks the Bengals would be a good trade partner because their defense was/is garbage, and they need a foundation. That’s fair.
The 49ers lost Fred Warner and Nick Bosa last season, and their defense fell apart. It makes sense that your defense falls apart when you lose dudes like them… but they don’t really have anyone else in the spine of their defense. If you get Lawrence, you solve a lot of problems.Â
The Bills' run defense was debilitating for the vast majority of the season. If they’re going to reload on that side of the ball, they ought to go all in. Jim Leonhard is their new defensive coordinator, and this is his first DC job. He’s coming from Denver, so he should be pounding the table for Lawrence since he knows how good an elite D-Line is going to make him look.Â
The Falcons were pretty bad at stopping inside runs last season. They’d be a good candidate if they didn’t already get rid of their first-round pick for *checks notes* James Pierce Jr., who was just arrested for aggravated battery and aggravated stalking.Â
Daron Payne (DT, Commanders)
The Commanders desperately need to get younger… but they only have six draft picks this season… and four of them are day-three draft picks. That’s not good.
Daron Payne is going into a contract season, and he’s got the biggest cap hit on the team. Trading him is going to get them more draft picks, and it’s going to free up more money to get younger guys.
It’s a good news/bad news thing: He’s going to get them a decent haul because he’s a really good ball player.
His 11.5 sack season in 2022 is looking more and more like a Lawrence-esque outlier, and he might not demand the same double-team attention that Lawrence gets, but the teams that are in on Sexy Dexy are probably the teams that are in on Payne.
If anything, the 49ers might be even more of a Payne-suitor than they are a Lawrence-suitor.
Kenny Clark (DT, Cowboys)
When the Cowboys traded Micah Parsons, they made sure that they traded with a team that would give them a run-stopping defensive tackle. Instead, they traded with the Packers, who gave them Kenny Clark… who would go on to have, arguably, his worst season in the past five years.
If the Cowboys are smart, they would cut ties with the 30-year-old, have to pay him exactly $0, and also save $21 million.
This is the third defensive tackle in a row, and he’s clearly the worst one of them all. Aside from the Bengals, 49ers, Bills, and Falcons being potential trade candidates, he’s also the kind of guy the Raiders might add. He wouldn’t cost too much draft capital, he can still play football, and he’s the kind of guy who could mentor a (potentially) young defensive tackle room…
But of those five teams, he seems like the kind of guy the Bengals would talk themselves into.Â
Budda Baker (S, Cardinals)
It’s been a couple of years, but Budda Baker is back on the trade candidate block. He might be 30-years old, but he’s a four-time All-Pro, and he just finished his seventh straight season as a Pro-Bowler (and he was never an alternate).
This dude is still really, really good at playing football.Â
If the Cardinals decided to move him, they’d be saving $13-ish million, and they'd be getting draft capital that they desperately need for the rebuild they’ve been avoiding.Â
The Bears are set to lose C.J. Gardner-Johnson, Kevin Byard, and/or Jaquan Brisker in free agency. Baker wouldn’t just fill a role, but he’d also be a hell of an upgrade at the position.
The Vikings have had stability at safety with Harrison Smith for the past decade and a half. He’s gone now, so getting Baker would give them a really good veteran, and also someone who could work as a role model for a potential young guy/rookie.Â
The Cowboys’ new defensive coordinator, Christian Parker, is coming from Philadelphia. If he’s going to be a true Vic Fangio descendant, then he needs a defensive back who’s familiar with that scheme. Baker fits that mold.
The Jets have a lot of cap space, a lot of draft capital, and not a lot of good football players… so they’re a target too.Â
Kayvon Thibodeaux (Edge, Giants)
You’re lying if you said that you weren’t waiting for an opportunity to see Kayvon Thibodeaux leave the New York Giants. They drafted him fifth overall in 2022, and aside from the 2023 season, where he had 11.5 sacks, he’s been entirely disappointing for them.Â
New York exercised his fifth-year option, so whoever trades for him is going to have to pay him $15-ish million next year, but that’s pretty cheap for the potential that they’d be getting. Then, if he does good, you extend him during the season.Â
He should go to a coach who can get the most out of aggressive edge rushers. Robert Saleh with the Titans, Jesse Minter with the Ravens, DeMeco Ryans with the Texans (if they’re getting greedy), or Dennis Allen with the Bears are all good options.Â
He’s a massive dude with incredible upside. It would be absolutely poetic if their recent first-round defensive draft picks joined Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones and started to be awesome with their second teams.Â
The bottom line is that the NFL is better when elite pass rushers are actually able to be elite.Â