Does Maxx Crosby want to play for the Raiders next year or not?
Crosby has taken the approach of not answering that question in recent weeks and the result has been predictable.
Raider fans don’t know what he wants.
A poll this week offered a nearly perfect split among fans on where they believe Crosby wants to play next year.
The Raiders’ head coach and GM both said last week they want Crosby back next year, but it’s hard to put a lot of stock into those statements. It’s what they would say whether Crosby is on the trade block or not.
There is some mystery to what’s going on behind the scenes between Crosby and the Raiders, but according to NBC Sports’ Mike Florio, there’s no question what Crosby wants.
“As the Raiders continue to work their way through an unworkable relationship with defensive end Maxx Crosby, it remains to be seen whether they’ll give him the trade he wants,” Florio wrote at Pro Football Talk on Wednesday.
“There’s no doubt he wants one,” Florio continued. “Crosby is taking the high road, but the evidence continues to hide in plain sight. In the four weeks since Jay Glazer of Fox said that Crosby is “done” with the Raiders, there has been no retraction or contradiction. The fact that the Raiders have attached an asking price (as PFT reported last week, two first-round picks and a player) shows that they’re willing to move him.”
There has been no shortage of opinions on Crosby’s situation, but the message from media types in the Raiders’ building continues to be that he is most likely going to be back in Las Vegas next year.
“We have told you that all of the news around the NFL is fake news. I don’t use that term much. You don’t either, because I watch the news every night,” JT said on his Raider Nation Radio Show on Friday.
“But when it comes to the news of Maxx Crosby, most of it has been fake and I’ve been telling you that for months. Now, could he be traded? Yes, he could be. If something happens and there’s an impasse at some point, I don’t see it, but if it is, it’s not the end of the world. I didn’t trade him. I’m not the guy to do it, and I don’t think he’s going to get traded.”
“Everybody keeps score nowadays. Everybody keeps score. And then a lot of people that have no relationship to Maxx at all, they need to be heard on this topic because their editors and bosses are saying, ‘Look, man. You got to get your clicks up because we got a paywall. We have a paywall, and people aren’t paying to read your articles on the Raiders or someone else, so we need you to come up with something on Maxx to get your numbers up,’” JT continued.
“So people do that, and they say, Brian, reports are that what? What are your reports actually? What the hell are you reporting on Maxx Crosby that I’m not aware of? Oh, wait, what are you reporting? That they shut him down last year? Well, he was injured. The team was terrible. They fired all the coaches.”
“So what are you reporting that’s new? Are you reporting that you heard something from him that is worthy of putting that up there on NFL Network or ESPN or FOX? No, you’re not, but you have to do it because then what the hell are you good for if you can’t put anything out there and you’re a news breaker?”
“That’s what you do. So everybody is running around and they’re just throwing stuff up there… [these people] that have contacts with all these people. I have contacts with all these people too. I have a lot of them too. Some of them better. But I’m not in the news-breaking business.”
x: @raidersbeat
As usual Florio is the instigator of this thing saying the raiders want to first round picks and a player, which they should, but I don’t believe he heard that from any credible source, if there ain’t news Florio will make it!