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Seahawks opened trade talks with Raiders with blockbuster proposal

Originally posted on Dice City Sports | By Derek Hegna | Last updated Mar 9, 2025 2:11 PM ET

The Las Vegas Raiders acquiring Geno Smith from the Seattle Seahawks on Friday changes the course of their offseason dramatically.

Smith gives the Raiders some instant credibility going into next season. The veteran quarterback answers the question of who will be starting for Las Vegas under center in 2025. It is doubtful that Smith is the only move that bolsters the quarterback room, but it ensures that the Raiders have a stopgap solution on their roster.

However, the door was opened by the Seahawks prior to the final deal, and the initial trade would have held massive implications for both teams.

An insider revealed the massive trade proposal that ultimately turned into the Smith trade.

According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, the Raiders were going to get Smith from the start, but two other superstar players were also part of the deal: Seahawks wide receiver D.K. Metcalf and Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby.

The Seahawks opened trade discussions with the Raiders with this blockbuster proposal—Geno Smith and DK Metcalf to Vegas for Maxx Crosby. Vegas QUICKLY shot that down, and told Seattle that Crosby was not available.

But talks continued, and led to Geno becoming a Raider.

— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) March 8, 2025

Needless to say, despite interest in both Smith and Metcalf, the Raiders were never going to move on from Crosby.

On Wednesday, days before news of the Smith trade broke, the Raiders announced they had re-signed Crosby to a three-year contract extension worth $106.5 million. The deal makes Crosby the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL, at least for the time being. That level of commitment is all the proof needed to know that the Raiders had no intentions of letting Crosby go elsewhere, even with players of Smith and Metcalf’s calibers on the table.

Perhaps the trade spurred the Raiders into action to get a deal with Crosby done, but it was clear that the team was determined to keep the face of their franchise.

This article first appeared on Dice City Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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