More proof Bengals were working phones on a Maxx Crosby trade

Q: Why did the Bengals consider a trade for Maxx Crosby?

The Bengals were looking to make a significant move in the offseason and considered Crosby as part of that strategy.

Q: What players did the Bengals sign after opting out of the Crosby trade?

After deciding against the Crosby trade, the Bengals signed Boye Mafe, Bryan Cook, and Jonathan Allen.

Q: What was the cost of the proposed Maxx Crosby trade?

The proposed trade for Maxx Crosby involved a cost of two first-round picks.

It got a little lost in the fray, but there was one report around the Dexter Lawrence trade that the Cincinnati Bengals had actually, in fact, been sniffing around a trade for Maxx Crosby.

Now there’s a little more juice around that idea as the fallout settles.

The Athletic’s Paul Dehner Jr. mentioned this in a recent column outlining the Lawrence trade, too: “The Bengals weren’t new to the idea of a big splash this offseason. They were in the mix of a Maxx Crosby trade before a pivot to sign Boye Mafe, Bryan Cook and Jonathan Allen in the first wave of free agency for a combined eight years and $126 million.”

Obviously, the Bengals no thanks’d their way all the way out of a Crosby trade that checked in at a pair of first-round picks.

Of course, that Crosby trade to the Baltimore Ravens flopped. He’s sitting on the Las Vegas Raiders and unlikely to move, it seems. Former Bengals star Trey Hendrickson went and signed with the Ravens instead.