Eagles are “nuclear hot” for Maxx Crosby and Howie Roseman should pull the trigger

The Eagles are one of two teams “nuclear hot” for Maxx Crosby, according to Sports Illustrated’s Hondo Carpenter, and for once the June rumor mill is cooking something I actually want to eat.

Carpenter went on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast and named names: the Eagles and the 49ers. He didn’t predict a trade. He just said he wouldn’t be shocked if one happened. In insider dialect, that means go ahead and start clearing the cap.

Then Bart Scott took it a step further on Get Up. He said Crosby is going to Philadelphia, that Roseman has a plan, and that the Eagles could ship out Nolan Smith and copy the trade the Rams just made for Myles Garrett.

A retired linebacker doing Howie’s roster math live on morning television. That’s where we are.

The Eagles don’t need Maxx Crosby. Get him anyway.

Here’s the honest part, because I’m not going to pretend there’s a hole here. The Eagles already fixed this position.

They lost the Jaelan Phillips sweepstakes to Carolina, who handed him four years and $120 million. So Roseman pivoted, flipped a couple of third-round picks for Jonathan Greenard during the draft, and locked him up on a four-year, $100 million extension. Then he kept stacking — Smith, Jalyx Hunt, Arnold Ebiketie, AJ Epenesa after minicamp. Brandon Graham is hovering around for one more lap.

That’s a finished pass rush. A genuinely good one.

So no, the Eagles do not need Maxx Crosby.

But “need” is a sucker’s word in an arms race.

The NFC just got scary, and the Eagles can’t blink

The Rams went out and traded for Myles Garrett, shipping Jared Verse and a stack of draft capital to Cleveland to get it done. The defending champion Seahawks are still sitting in that same division. The entire conference is loading the chamber to take a shot at Philadelphia.

Crosby is a five-time Pro Bowler with 69.5 career sacks, five straight Pro Bowls, in fact. Drop him in next to Greenard, Jalen Carter, and Jordan Davis and you’ve turned a top-five defense into something closer to a felony.

The cost is the only thing that gives me a second of pause. The Raiders want two first-round picks. The Eagles are holding a first they pried loose in the AJ Brown trade plus two more first-rounders in 2028. The money’s uglier, Crosby’s around $35.5 million a year, Greenard’s at $25 million, and there are Carter, Quinyon Mitchell, and Cooper DeJean extensions coming.

Cap math is a Tuesday problem for Howie Roseman.

This is the man who has voided more contract years than a time traveler. If anyone in this sport can wedge two thirty-million-dollar edge rushers under the cap and still pay his young corners, it’s him.

So let the 49ers sweat in their division. Let the Rams enjoy Garrett for a few warm months.

The Eagles have the picks.

The Eagles have the cap wizard.

The Eagles have the defense that’s already one piece away from unfair.

Get the Condor. Send the picks. Read the receipts in March.