The Raiders placed Brock Bowers and Jeremy Chinn on injured reserve this week, but the notable name that will be in the lineup against the New York Giants on Sunday is All-Pro edge rusher Maxx Crosby.
With so many draft implications connected to Sunday’s game, it’s somewhat of a surprise that Crosby will be on the field, but former Raiders great Lincoln Kennedy explained why the Raiders aren’t going to pull the plug early on Crosby’s season.
“I don’t think there’s a set of wild horses in this world that’s going to keep Maxx Crosby out of this game. And rightfully so. Just let him play,” Kennedy said on the Locked on Raiders Squad Show podcast.
“You can try to limit his amount of snaps. Like I said, there’s a strategy. I’ve seen them deal with other past rushers, prominent past rushers, bring them in on passing downs. But I don’t even think that sits well with Maxx. He’s too much of a visible leader on this team. And I think it would be a chaotic outbreak if we see him jarring with the coaches or players on the sideline. Every time it’s happened this year, there’s been a big spectacle made of it, so I don’t know if that’s possible.”
Reading between the lines a little on Kennedy’s comments, Crosby wants to play on Sunday, and the Raiders want to stay in good standing with the leader of the locker room.
As tempting as it might be for GM John Spytek to end Crosby’s season (he has been dealing with a lingering knee injury), no one within the organization wants to go into the offseason at odds with the team’s best player.
Crosby came close to requesting a trade a year ago, and the situation in Las Vegas is worse than it was when he questioned the direction of the organization on Christmas Eve of 2024. He hasn’t said it, but it’s probably a reasonable assumption that Crosby will be one of the players fighting for Carroll’s job down the stretch.
Crosby’s contract is very tradeable, but every indication is that the Raiders would like to rebuild the roster with their star defensive player in the mix.
If the Raiders decide to fire Carroll at the end of the season, it will be interesting to see if Crosby’s mindset returns to where it was 12 months ago.
For anyone needing a refresher on Crosby’s comments from a year ago…
Via The Rush podcast…
“I had many people send it to me as well. You know, for me, I think everything he said, like, I fully agree with, you know what I mean? I fully align with, I got at the end of the day, like, I’m not going to play the game forever. That’s where it gets, you could ruffle some feathers and people are always like, oh, he wants out or he… Cause I hear it all the time.
People love to talk about me getting traded and that’s the reality. Like I’ve earned that right to be in, you know what I mean?
At the end of the day, I agree with what Myles said. I’m on the same boat. I want to win. You know what I mean? I want to know there’s a real plan and execution behind it. You know what I mean? It’s like, I put in way too much work and I get it from a front office standpoint and coaches standpoint, and be like, ‘oh, well, this guy just be a football player and stop worrying about it.’
I’m like, the people that have that opinion… I will never operate like that because you don’t, you’re not in my shoes and you could never be in my shoes. So like, you don’t understand what I do to even get on the field on Sundays, bro. Like I’ve had six surgeries now. I’ve put everything into it. I train all year round. I sacrifice all the time in the world, my daughter, my family, with y’all, with everybody, 24-7.
Like real isolation a lot of the time because I got to be up at 5 in the morning. No matter if it’s office, y’all know how it is. Like I put everything into it, and I’ve earned the right to say something. I’m not sitting here saying I got all the answers or I’m 100 percent right about everything. But at the end of the day, like my intentions are pure and like I want to win. And that’s all that matters to me.
And like, yeah, it’s been tough. You know what I mean? It’s been six years of inconsistency. You know what I mean? It’s new coaches every other year and this and this and that and new teammates. And there’s been plenty of times where I’m like, ****, like this D-line is cold.
And then I come back and every single one of them is gone. You know what I mean? And it’s like, what the, you know what I mean? And then it just, there’s on and on and on. There’s a lot of things. So it’s just like, it’s tough, bro.“
With a loss on Sunday, the Raiders are one win away from the no. 1 pick in the draft…
With the Giants traveling to Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, the Raiders have the ability to jump to the no. 1 pick going into their week 18 matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Appearing on the Rich Eisen Show last week, long time draft analyst Todd McShay explained why this is not going to be a great year to have a top 10 pick – unless you have the first pick.
McShay explained the value of the no. 1 pick from the standpoint of the Giants, but the same logic applies to the Raiders.
“I hate to say this as we get ready to embark on the 2026 draft process, it’s not a great top 10 in terms of what we’re used to,” McShay told Eisen.
“With the elite offensive tackles and pass rushers. There’s a lot of good ones… [but] it’s a different class in that the positions of value are not the best players this year. So I’m looking at that number one overall pick and I think I have it right. It is the Giants right now… I would love to have that first pick because if it’s only Mendoza or even if it’s Mendoza and let’s say more, but not Simpson, teams are going to be clamoring to go up and get that pick ahead of the Raiders.”
x: @raidersbeat
BREAKING: MAXX CROSBY HAS LEFT RAIDERS FACILITIES AFTER THE TEAM INFORMED HIM THEY WANT TO **** HIM DOWN YHE LAST 2 GAMES.
SLEEPER.COM
Come on, Hondo. Give us another factually inept, incorrect mendacious explanation.
Lincoln Kennedy don’t know ****!