Maxx Crosby made big news on Christmas Eve when he dropped a podcast hinting at his uncertain future with the Raiders.
“My contract situation, I have no more guaranteed money. There’s a lot of different things. Like obviously, you know, there’s going to be a lot of things that need to be talked about,” Crosby said on The Rush. “People love to talk about me getting traded and that’s the reality… At the end of the day, I agree with what Myles [Garrett] 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.”
The All-Pro defensive end hasn’t talked a lot about his status with the Raiders since December, but he has no guaranteed money remaining on his contract and, as of now, the door definitely seems open for Crosby to request a trade in the offseason.
Crosby was at Pete Carroll’s introductory press conference on Monday and that seemed like a good sign for his future with the Raiders. Afterwards, Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter brought up a few details around Crosby and the team on his daily podcast.
“I asked someone in the organization with direct knowledge of Maxx’s contract and about [his] deal, and the person looked me right in the eyes and said, ‘Maxx is priority one.'” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“If I was to say today, do I think Maxx will re-sign? Yes,” Hondo continued. “If they keep Patrick Graham and Rob Leonard, I don’t expect any chance he goes anywhere else. If they keep one of them, I still think there’s a great chance, and if they don’t keep either one, I would guess [the odds are] 50-50. You don’t make those decisions, if you’re the Raiders, just on one guy… but that’s where that sits.”
According to OverTheCap, Crosby has two years remaining on the extension he signed in 2022, but all of his guaranteed money came in the first three years of the deal.
Based on Carpenter’s report, it sounds like the Raiders are interested in working out a contract extension with Crosby, but unless the source was Tom Brady, anything could play out on the team side of discussions.
Historically, the Patriots didn’t budge a lot with superstars looking for new deals, but Crosby’s situation is a little different than anything in New England.
Crosby is one of the best defensive players in the NFL and plays a premium position. At 27 years-old, he is still in the prime of his career and getting better. It would be a bizarre way to start the Brady era in Las Vegas by removing the best player and hardest working member of the locker room.
That doesn’t mean it can’t happen, and if for some reason the Raiders choose to trade an elite pass rusher in his prime, the decision wouldn’t be unprecedented.
Aside from Crosby, it’s worth noting the Raiders have a long list of expiring contracts on the defensive side of the ball. They will have difficult decisions coming on Tre’von Moehrig, Robert Spillane, Malcolm Koonce, Nate Hobbs, Divine Deablo, K’Lavon Chaisson and Adam Butler.
Moehrig and Spillane are expected to be top priorities in free agency, and Koonce could be in line for a massive deal from a team willing to roll the dice on a rising pass rusher returning from the season-ending knee injury he suffered before the start of the 2024 regular season.
Butler was arguably the most consistent player on the roster in 2024, so losing him wouldn’t be a great start to the offseason, either.
x: @raidersbeat
Let Leonard take over. Graham has proved himself to be incapable of making endgame adjustments. It wasn’t until AP took over as interim that Graham started to implement exotic, blitz packages that were never part of grams past. Which means it points directly to Antonio‘s influence.