Maxx Crosby sat on The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Friday and did exactly what you'd expect Maxx Crosby to do: he said everything without saying anything.
"I know my truth, and when I go to bed at night, I have a smile on my face because I don't have to explain anything to anybody," Crosby said. He talked about getting to the facility before 6 a.m. when it's still dark, staying until almost 2 in the afternoon, putting in eight-hour rehab days on his surgically repaired knee. He talked about actions over words. About being the hardest worker on the planet.
What he didn't talk about — and this is the part that matters — is whether he actually wants to be a Raider next season.
Reading between the lines
"All the noise, it's news to me sometimes," Crosby said. "I got up two days ago, I looked at my phone, and, all of a sudden, now I got a bunch of PR people talking about 'what Maxx is doing.' I just laugh because if I address it, then someone's going to pick apart what I say there. It's a lose-lose."
He's right about the lose-lose part. But the reason it's a lose-lose is because every plausible outcome involves him leaving Las Vegas, and he knows it.
Jay Glazer — who broke the original story back in December about Crosby being shut down for the final two games and leaving the building — went further on Yahoo Sports Daily earlier this week. When asked if Crosby had played his last meaningful snap as a Raider, Glazer answered flatly: "I do." He added that Crosby told the Raiders he wasn't going through another rebuild. Per Glazer, the day the shutdown story broke, no fewer than 20 teams called asking about a trade.
Twenty teams. For a 28-year-old edge rusher coming off knee surgery. That tells you everything about how the league views Crosby.
The contract vs. the reality
On paper, this shouldn't be a story. Crosby signed a three-year, $106.5 million extension last March — $91.5 million guaranteed, per ESPN's Adam Schefter and NFL Network's Ian Rapoport. The deal was supposed to end the trade chatter for good. Pete Carroll stood next to him at the press conference and talked about competition and commitment.
Carroll is gone now, fired after going 3-14. The Raiders have the No. 1 pick and are reportedly set to draft Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza. They've reportedly agreed to hire Klint Kubiak — currently calling plays for Seattle in the Super Bowl — as their next head coach. The franchise is resetting its timeline around a quarterback who hasn't thrown an NFL pass yet.
Crosby turns 29 in August. He doesn't have the patience for another multi-year project, and honestly, you can't blame him.
The man behind the production
What sometimes gets lost in the trade speculation is who Crosby actually is. Fourth-round pick out of Eastern Michigan in 2019 — a school where the football stadium seats 30,000 and is rarely full. He checked himself into rehab for alcoholism in March 2020, stayed for 30 days, then spent another month and a half in sober living before training camp. He's been clean for nearly six years now.
"Putting yourself in a rehab alone is the hardest part," Crosby told NFL Films last year. "Admitting you have a problem, but I was ready."
He signed his first extension on the second anniversary of his sobriety. His daughter, Ella Rose, was born later that year. The guy has rebuilt his entire life from the ground up while playing for an organization that has cycled through five head coaches since 2021.
That's the context people miss when they talk about "disgruntled stars." Crosby isn't disgruntled. He's exhausted. There's a difference.
This season, by the numbers
Even on a 3-14 team with a defense that had very little help from the offense, Crosby posted 10 sacks, 73 combined tackles, two forced fumbles, six passes defended, and an interception across 15 games. It was his fourth career season with double-digit sacks. He made his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl.
The knee issue that got him shut down required surgery in early January. "Clean up time. Successful surgery. Expecting 200% recovery," he posted. "Year 8 will be the greatest year yet."
Whether year 8 happens in Las Vegas is the question nobody in that building wants to answer publicly.
The trade math
Glazer reported that the Raiders would want "probably more" than what the Cowboys received for Micah Parsons when they sent him to Green Bay last August. That's a steep ask, but Crosby's production justifies it. He ranks first among all defensive linemen in tackles for loss (105) since entering the league in 2019, and fourth in sacks (59.5) over that span, per Raiders.com.
His 2026 cap hit is $35.9 million with a base salary of $30 million, according to Spotrac. That's real money, but for a team with Super Bowl ambitions and an edge-rusher need, it's the kind of money you find a way to make work.
And Crosby, perhaps tellingly, had nothing but kind words for the former Raiders teammates now playing for the Patriots in the Super Bowl — Robert Spillane, K'Lavon Chaisson, Mack Hollins.
"Those are my guys, so I know the type of guys that they brought over there," Crosby said on The Herd. "They're culture guys, guys that love the game. … That whole team, you can see they're all on the same page."
He was talking about New England. But he could just as easily have been describing the kind of team he wants to play for next.