Jon Gruden is one of the greatest storytellers on the planet and he shared a story on Thursday that may or may not have been 100 percent factual, but it was an incredible account of how the Raiders reached the decision to draft Maxx Crosby in 2019.
According to Gruden, it was his bus driver who deserves credit for the Raiders drafting one of the best defensive players in the NFL.
In a video post on X, Gruden said his driver bugged him for six months about drafting the undersized defensive end from Eastern Michigan.
“I have an assistant named Jeff Leonardo. I swear to God, Jeff has been with me, he drove the bus on Monday Night Football. Jeff is the only guy I know that watches Mid America Conference football on a Tuesday. [He] never says a word. All he does is drive me to and from work.
[Jeff] walks in one day and goes, ‘There’s a son of a b— at Eastern Michigan. His name’s Maxx Crosby.’
I say, ‘Yeah, OK, see ya, Jeff.’
Two weeks later… ‘There’s a mother f—– at Eastern Michigan. His name’s Maxx Crosby.’
I swear to God, we get into the draft process, he walks in and says, ‘The guy Maxx Crosby is better than all these guys.’
And we’re taking Cle Ferrell with the fourth pick, we’re signing defensive ends. Jeff Leonardo is the guy. He stayed up my a– for six months. He absolutely loved [Maxx].”
Crosby made waves in December when he made comments that sounded like there might be uncertainty around his future with the Raiders.
More recently, Crosby seems to be more comfortable with the situation in Las Vegas, and he confirmed those suspicions on NBC’s PFT Live on Thursday.
“I’ve had doubts in the past,” Crosby said. “I feel like this past year was the hardest part of my career. Battling through injury the whole year, struggling, losing 10 games in a row. Up here, it makes you start questioning a lot of things.”
But Crosby said he has been involved in a lot of conversations with Tom Brady, John Spytek and Pete Carroll in recent weeks, and has been encouraged by the new direction of the organization.
”It seems as if we’re going in the right direction,” Crosby said. “I can’t say that it is, but this probably the most optimistic I’ve been in recent years.”
Safe to say, Crosby’s situation in Las Vegas isn’t the same as what Myles Garrett is going through with the Browns.
In December, Crosby compared his situation to what Garrett has been dealing with in Cleveland, but based on his comments on Thursday, Crosby isn’t anywhere close to requesting a trade from the Raiders.
Crosby’s full segment with Mike Florio and Chris Simms can be viewed below…
x: @raidersbeat
What Gruden didn’t say was that Mayock wanted him in the third round and as usual he got vetoed. The only reason he told this version is because we got him. No props ever given to Mayock. For anything
I agree with you Greg!! You correct all the way. They took the guy from Kentucky Lynn Bowden Jr and he never played a down for us and got traded while still in camp. What a wasted pick. But Gruden wasted a lot of Raiders picks. I think Crosby, Miller, Hobbs,Morihig, I know I butcherd his name and maybe a couple others are the only ones still there from Gruden/Mayock days. And them fools had at least 5 or 6 first round picks. They wasted every one except Kolton Miller. The rest are out of football or in jail
That should tell you something when your bus driver is a better talent evaluator than you are!!