Rumored 49ers trade target fuels speculation by heaping praise on Bay Area

The San Francisco 49ers have been linked to countless edge rushers this offseason. One such player is Maxx Crosby of the Las Vegas Raiders.

Crosby recently visited the Bay Area and heaped praise on the Bay in a social media post.

The 27-year-old wrote: “Spent 48 Hours In The Bay This Weekend. Easily One Of The Best Experiences I’ve Had So Far As A Professional…Going From Oaktown To Alameda & The City & Being With The People Was Truly Was Iconic & Means More To Me Than Anything. Impact & Inspiring Is Everything. Spent One Year In The Town & The Rest Is History. The Town Will Forever Hold A Special Place In My Heart. To Everybody I Encountered Out There, I Love Yall. We Will Back Again Soon…”

Naturally, this instantly led to speculation about Crosby potentially being traded to the 49ers. Deommodore Lenoir, a cornerback for the Niners, couldn’t help but post the eye emoji in response to Crosby’s post.

Now, perhaps this is just a case of Crosby having a very nice weekend in the Bay Area and he felt the need to post about it. His rookie season with the Raiders was when the team was still located in Oakland, so maybe being back in the place where his NFL career began had him feeling nostalgic about old times.

At the same time, we know that modern NFL players use social media to get what they want. Whether it is deleting all of your posts mentioning the team or unfollowing the team, players in today’s game use social media to let team’s know when they are upset with them.

Crosby may be trying to not so subtly hint that he wants out of Las Vegas and would love to play football in the Bay Area.

Well, how lucky for the 49ers that they are currently the only NFL team in the Bay.

49ers would love to land Maxx Crosby (but how?)

The Niners would obviously be wise to see if a trade for Crosby could get done. He is a great edge rusher who had 7.5 sacks in 12 games last season and 14.5 sacks in 2023. If San Francisco were to pair him with edge rusher Nick Bosa, there is no telling how dangerous the team’s pass rush could be next season.

At the same time, a deal could be complicated by the fact that Crosby will want a contract extension whether he stays with Las Vegas or gets traded elsewhere. The 49ers are focused on getting a contract extension done for quarterback Brock Purdy, so it may be difficult having to juggle both of those balls at the same time.

Nonetheless, San Francisco could use the extra boost on defense. The team’s defense regressed last year and even though they have Robert Saleh back in the building, it sure would help to have some added talent accompany him.

Crosby’s positive post about the Bay Area is only going to fuel speculation that he could be coming to the Niners so we will have to see if a deal eventually gets done or if this just ends up being social media posturing.