The Raiders have watched the 2025 season circle the drain for the first eight weeks of the season, and as Hall of Fame cornerback Eric Allen said last week, this year is starting to become more about next year.
“The whole organization, instead of pulling for everyone pulling the same way for each week, thinking ‘Hey, we can win this game, we can win that game.’ Now folks have to start to kind of think about how these younger players are going to affect our football team next year,” Allen said on Raider Nation Radio’s Morning Tailgate.
And with an eye on next year and beyond, Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter suggested on Tuesday that the Raiders should consider making a bold decision with their best player.
“This isn’t a playoff team… I didn’t think that when the season started. But that being said, you could still win this season by turning over every single stone and saying, what can we do this year to make us better next year?'” Carpenter said on the Las Vegas Raiders Insider podcast.
“If you just up and say, ‘Okay, the season’s over, we’ll come back and get ready for the draft,’ you’re throwing away valuable games. First thing I would do [is] bench Maxx [Crosby]. He’s too valuable. Maxx is the elite of the elite. He’s your Michael Jordan. He’s your Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson. He’s your Kobe Bryant, and I just go to him and say, ‘Maxx, [we] love you. You were so healthy for so many years. [The] last three years, there’s been injuries. You’re out. That’s going to make him mad, but I would explain to him, ‘Hey, you agreed to stay here because we were going to be championship focused. We need you [next year and the year after]. Just get well.’”
There’s almost no chance the Raiders would shut down Crosby for the season, but Carpenter suggested the idea would allow Crosby to “get well” for the future.
Every indication is that the knee injury Crosby suffered against the Chiefs wasn’t severe, but the team has downplayed Crosby’s injuries in the past. Crosby’s knee injury 11 days ago knocked him out of the game, so it wasn’t just a bump or a bruise.
After week one, the message out of the Raiders’ building was that Brock Bowers’ knee was expected to be fine, and Bowers is still not at full strength.
Hopefully, Crosby’s injury isn’t anything like what Bowers has been dealing with, and if there is any chance of re-injury to Crosby’s knee, the Raiders might be wise to take a more cautious approach than what they did with their All-Pro tight end.
x: @raidersbeat
And this precisely why Hondo should quit getting any kind of press. He’s a flipping parrot only so “his” thought was given to him by someone on staff. We should all agree Crosby needs to have his snaps managed because of his great prowess on the field. We should also all agree that they need to play the young guys. Put JPJ back at C, move on from Cappa, Meredith to the bench, Stone to the bench, Roger’s and Grant to either starters or at least cycling in. Bech, Thorton, Bowers, Mayer, Tucker as WR3, the young DTs need reps, the young LBs need reps. Rip off the training wheels because this terrible roster needs adjusting.