Stephen A. Smith is fresh off a new $100 million contract in exchange for more screaming opinions on camera, and some of his first comments since the deal was reported were directed at the Raiders and Maxx Crosby.
Actually, his first comments came in the form of a neutered public response to LeBron James but that is content for another platform.
As for Crosby’s deal, Stephen A believes the Raiders paid their star defender more than anyone else would have been willing to pay, and he is of the belief that there is not going to be a winning situation for Crosby in Las Vegas.
“This is good for Crosby, whether or not this is going to prove to be good for the Raiders, who are still looking for a quarterback and stuff like that, obviously we sincerely doubt it,” Smith said on ESPN’s First Take. “I think he should have been looking to go elsewhere, but again, I don’t know if anybody else was going to pay him $106 million. I got that part, get your money. I’m just saying I’d like to see somebody like him in a winning situation.”
“I’m happy for him because football’s a violent sport, get your money bro, get your money he deserves it. But we know they ain’t going to win, I know they got Pete Carroll in there and I appreciate that but you ain’t winning. I just can’t see the Raiders winning in a foreseeable future.”
It’s anyone’s guess what teams would have been willing to pay Crosby, but Sports Illustrated insider Hondo Carpenter reported this week that teams were willing to trade multiple first-round picks for him.
Crosby is now the highest paid non-quarterback in the league and is under contract with the Raiders through the 2029 season.
According to ESPN, Crosby is now making a $800k per year more than Nick Bosa and a whopping $8 million more per year than Myles Garrett, who is aggressively trying to get out of Cleveland.
Crosby has certainly earned his new contract, but with a new deal reportedly coming for Geno Smith, the Raiders’ room under the salary cap is evaporating quickly.
According to OverTheCap, Crosby has a $38.1 million cap number in 2025, and Smith is at $31 million before signing the long-term deal that everyone is expecting.
OverTheCap currently shows the Raiders at $50.1 million in cap room, which is 15th-most in the league.
x: @raidersbeat
Smith is a fool he’s always talk **** about people or certain teams and when they call him out he cowers down he nothing but a punk who talks **** and then runs punk ***