Insider Says Raiders Told Maxx Crosby They Wanted to “Pursue the No. 1 Pick”

As trade rumor around Maxx Crosby continue to ramp up, there is still a lot we don’t know about how Crosby and the Raiders got to this point.

One of the best-connected insiders covering the Crosby situation has been Sports Illustrated Albert Breer, and Breer was on the Rich Eisen Show on Wednesday. Breer filled in a few blanks to the story and hinted that Crosby was told the team was trying to tank for the no. 1 pick.

Here are a few highlights from Breer’s conversation with Eisen.

Breer explained when the relationship between Crosby and the Raiders took a turn for the worse

“To understand this, you’ve got to go all the way back to the very beginning and that was him injuring his knee back in October. At that point, he knew, the team knew that he was going to eventually have to have surgery. The question was when. It was a pain tolerance thing to some degree. So he was under enough pain in December that they decided to go back in and have scans a couple days before Christmas.

At that point, after the scans came back, they made the decision they were going to shut him down.
He didn’t like that. He went and sought a couple of outside opinions on the knee. And those doctors outside the organization told him he wasn’t perfect, but he’d be okay to play out the last couple of weeks of the season.

It was communicated to him that wasn’t going to happen and you know, the communication issue there, I think, as much as anything else, was more of a Tom Brady, Alex Guerrero thing. So that’s where the disconnects come with Crosby.”

Breer said Crosby is fine with Raiders GM John Spytek

“I think at this point, he’s fine with the general manager, John Spytek. I know he’s had a chance to meet with the new head coach, Klint Kubiak. Rob Leonard, he’s very close with his position coach [who] was just promoted to defensive coordinator.

There were all of these sort of moving pieces within the organization. But I think the big thing is the door was open to the idea of him being traded and he was able to sort of look around and see what’s out there. And so I think shutting that door is difficult if you’re the Raiders and saying, ‘No, we’re not going to trade you.’

Obviously, calls have come in… a quarter of the league, if not more, is interested in trading for him at various different prices. And now the question becomes [about] which way this goes. I do know there’s a feeling that this is an important week and has been an important week all along. For the simple reason that [when] we get to Monday, free agency starts and now teams are starting to fill out their rosters. Cap and cash budgets are being spent. The teams that are pursuing Crosby would like some clarity and for the Raiders, I guess on paper at least, the largest group of suitors they’re going to have.”

Breer said Crosby’s perception was that the Raiders wanted to tank for the no. 1 pick in the draft

“I mean, I think his perception was right or wrong, I think his perception was that what was communicated to him was he’s being sat down so the Raiders could pursue the first overall pick.

I think you have to understand the psychology of Maxx here too. The psychology of Maxx, obviously he’s a great player, he’s accomplished a lot, he’s self-made, a former fourth round pick who’s risen to the highest level at his position, and he’s only played in one playoff game. And so, if you haven’t had the chance to have team success over a seven-year career, what are your points of pride?”

If you had a great level of loyalty to an organization and to ownership, he’s very close to Mark Davis, then the organization taking something like that away from you at the end of the season would naturally chip away your loyalty to the organization.

I think that’s how all of this turned into what it’s turned into. It’s something I’ve talked about the last few weeks, but I think that communication issue at that level of the organization, and the Brady Guerrero level of the organization, that was problematic for Maxx at the time, and we’ll see where it goes from here. But I can tell you this, people in that organization love the player.”

x: @raidersbeat

S.I.’s Albert Breer on Whether Maxx Crosby & Raiders Can Mend Fences | The Rich Eisen Show

Sports Illustrated’s/The MMQB’s Albert Breer and Rich Eisen discuss if the Raiders and Crosby can work out their differences. Tune in to the Emmy-nominated Rich Eisen Show live weekdays from Noon to 3PM ET on Disney+, ESPN+, ESPN Radio, and streaming on SiriusXM channel 80.