PHOENIX — Sashi Brown cracked a wry smile Monday afternoon and, with a hint of dry humor, the Baltimore Ravens president said he “hadn’t noticed” the criticism directed at the organization after their decision to back out of a blockbuster trade with the Las Vegas Raiders for Maxx Crosby earlier this month.

Around the NFL, plenty of people did notice, of course. Trades involving two first-round picks – especially for a player of Crosby’s caliber – rarely come together at all. They almost never unravel days later.

Brown, though, downplayed any lingering fallout, including the idea that the Ravens needed to repair relationships after scuttling the deal on the eve of the new league year and quickly pivoting to sign Trey Hendrickson.

“We were incredibly excited and just as equally, if not more disappointed, that we weren’t able to pull off that transaction and bring Maxx to Baltimore,” Brown said to a gathering of local reporters at the NFL owners meetings. “We’ve got strong and long relationships across the league. We have emphasized the importance of doing things the right way. We’ll continue to do that. And we understand that it is a headline story because of its profile and significance. We believe our relationships to the extent that you need time to repair them. People understand who we are and what we’re about. Our locker room understands that as well. But when you have high-profile transactions like this and opportunities like this.

“It’s unfortunate, but sometimes these things do happen. No fault of Maxx’s, certainly ours, or the Raiders.”

The timeline was as notable as the outcome.

On March 6, the Ravens agreed to send two first-round picks — this year’s and next — to the Raiders in exchange for Crosby, a five-time Pro Bowl selection who has 69 1/2 career sacks across five seasons. Four days later, though, Baltimore stunningly pulled out after a failed physical.

Crosby, who was shut down for the final games of the 2025 season because of a left knee injury, underwent surgery on Jan. 7 to repair a torn meniscus. The Ravens had never traded a first-round pick for a veteran player before, much less two picks. General manager Eric DeCosta said earlier this month that only after doing their due diligence were they unable to move forward with the deal “based on our assessment of the situation,” while adding he was “gutted” by the decision.

On Monday, Raiders general manager John Spytek offered little in the way of second-guessing or detail.

“I don’t really have an opinion on how it played out,” he said. “Maxx is back like he never left. He’s working his ass off to get healthy, and he’ll be ready to rock by training camp, and we expect him to play a bunch of good football for many years to come.

“I don’t want to get too deep into the conversations, but I think we all know how trades work. I took the information as it came, but I knew we were in a great place that no matter what the result was, we would be OK.”

Other coaches and general managers, at least publicly, voiced similar opinions across the meetings.

Crosby, meanwhile, was more pointed earlier this month. Two weeks ago on his podcast, he said he was “f—ing livid” and “confused” after learning the Ravens had backed out, though he added Las Vegas is where he’s “supposed to be.” He also said that during his visit to Baltimore he initially did not meet with Ravens coach Jesse Minter after arriving at the team’s Owings Mills facility and did not see DeCosta until five hours into the visit.

When Brown was asked whether anything about the situation had been misconstrued, he acknowledged there was, but declined to elaborate.

“Yeah, but we wouldn’t get into that publicly, honestly,” he said. “We understand the need to report on these high-profile cases, and certainly, but as I said, we’re going to trust ourselves and have a ton of respect for Maxx and treat all this with the right privacy and respect and dignity that it deserves.”

For the Ravens, it is not entirely unfamiliar ground.

In 2018, they agreed to terms with free agent wide receiver Ryan Grant, who failed his physical because of an ankle injury, voiding the deal. Two years later, the same scenario unfolded with defensive lineman Michael Brockers. And in March 1997, free agent safety Brock Marion failed his physical with the Ravens because of a shoulder injury he suffered with the Dallas Cowboys the previous season, voiding that agreement as well.

Around the league, the pattern repeats. Just earlier this week, the Cleveland Browns decided not to sign free agent defensive end A.J. Epenesa because they reportedly did not like what his physical revealed after a season in which he suffered a concussion and foot injury, along with having a previous neck issue.

Uncomfortable, certainly. Uncommon, yes.

But Brown said he does not believe the league’s process — where teams agree to deals ahead of the official start of the new league year, pending physicals — needs to be revisited.

“I think this is how it should be handled,” he said. “We’re not aiming for that result. But when you have a high-stakes transaction like that, everybody needs to understand what conditions you’re moving forward on, and you know I won’t say much more than that. But we understand we’re disappointed it didn’t go through, but we move on to the next opportunity.

“I think there’s steps that teams take consistently. I think we just saw another team through a very similar circumstance. This is not the first time it’s gonna happen, it will not be the last.”

The Ravens have already moved on.

For a few days this month, though, a deal that never quite happened still said plenty.

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