The Las Vegas Raiders‘ decision to send defensive end Maxx Crosby to the Injured Reserve raised a lot of eyebrows. It’s normal for teams to shut down banged-up veterans this late in the year, but what made this a big story is that Crosby didn’t want to sit out.
Though he’s been nursing a knee injury all season, he thought he could fight through the pain for two more weeks. The Raiders thought it would be better to give him more recovery time.
With the Raiders losing 34-10 to the New York Giants in Week 17, it’s hard to imagine his presence would’ve made much of a difference. The game was in Las Vegas, but Crosby decided not to show up and support the team.
Luckily, it doesn’t sound like that will be the case going forward. After the game, head coach Pete Carroll announced that Crosby will be back at the team facility on Monday.
While this doesn’t mean that he’s cooled off and understands the team’s decision, it does give the Raiders a chance to smooth things over with him.
Crosby Fought Raiders on Decision
Crosby is a competitor and not the type of player who wants to miss a snap, let alone multiple games. He has remained loyal to the Raiders despite undergoing several coaching changes and only having one winning season during his tenure.
According to FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer, Crosby thought that he had the right to play the final two games.
“I’ve been on the phone with Maxx a bunch over the last couple of days and he’s not happy,” Glazer said on “FOX NFL Sunday.” “He was like, ‘Jay, I play football. This is what I do. I’ve had a knee injury since Week 3 that I’ve played with the entire time. They told me they were shutting me down, I was like, no, absolutely not. I play football. There’s no shutting it down for me. I want to be out there. I want to be out there with my teammates.’ It just wasn’t acceptable to Maxx.”
Glazer also noted that Crosby previously didn’t want to get traded, but this latest development may have changed things.
“Remember, at the trade deadline, I said that Maxx Crosby told me that he [didn’t] want to go anywhere,” Glazer added. “He told the team he doesn’t want to get traded anywhere else. I don’t know if that’s still the case. I think there’s some massaging that still has to happen.”
Raiders Made the Right Decision
The Raiders now control the No. 1 pick in the draft following the loss to the Giants. If Crosby wants to see Las Vegas build a winner, getting that top pick is the quickest way for it to happen.
The Raiders now have a chance to add a real franchise quarterback. Even if Crosby is so upset to the point that he requests a trade, the team might be able to get two first-round picks for him.
They likely don’t want to move him, but he’s getting closer to 30 and has now ended back-to-back seasons on the Injured Reserve.
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