Robert Frost's famous poem, "The Road Not Taken," begins with a simple line: "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood." That about sums up where the Las Vegas Raiders are as it pertains to their relationship with superstar defensive end Maxx Crosby.
Crosby was obviously upset when he was shut down for the season, and the five-time Pro Bowler has always seen his name swirl in trade rumors. But this time, it's different. Trading Crosby feels imminent, and where there is this much smoke, there is usually fire.
Almost every team in the league will want a player of Crosby's caliber, so the Raiders should have no issue finding a trade partner. But The Athletic's Dianna Russini has reason to believe that Crosby may want to play for the New England Patriots.
Dianna Russini leaked that Maxx Crosby has said he wants to play for Mike Vrabel
Russini appeared on Zolak & Bertrand, part of 98.5 The Sports Hub, on radio row ahead of Super Bowl LX. She indicated that Las Vegas' $106.5 million defensive end has expressed to her his desire to play for Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel.
"As for this upcoming offseason, outside of just free agency, the thing that I'm going to be watching is these players that perhaps want trades. That's what I want to see," Russini wrote. "Maxx Crosby doesn't seem too happy in Las Vegas. Is he going to ask for one officially and ask out? I can tell you, I know he wants to play for Mike Vrabel. He's told me before."
Now, Crosby has expressed his admiration for Vrabel in the past. After all, he won the NFL Coach of the Year award in 2021, and he's led New England back to the promised land this season. It makes sense that Crosby would want to play for a coach like that.
But Russini's report begs a handful of other questions: When did Crosby say this? Was this a general praising of the Patriots' head coach, or was it Crosby indicating where he'd like to land, should the Raiders actually trade him this offseason?
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It is precarious timing that Russini said this on Wednesday, as Crosby spoke about Vrabel on his latest episode of his podcast, The Rush With Maxx Crosby, which was released on Tuesday, just one day prior.
"Me and Vrabel, we've had an awesome relationship since all the way back then in 2021. In my first Pro Bowl, he was the number one seed with the Titans that year. So, he was our head coach for the Pro Bowl," Crosby said. "It was awesome. Honestly, just to speak on Vrabel, he was so dope during that week. I got to really spend time and see his style of how he runs things. And it was dope. ... It was all consistent of what you would kind of assume of what he was. And we obviously, we're closer for other reasons as well, just our families. We know each other. Like, we're real close. So, he's been dope."
Again, Crosby will be a hot commodity, and without having a no-trade clause in his contract, he will get traded at Las Vegas' discretion, not just wherever he wants to go. The Raiders can increase the bidding by restructuring his contract so that he is more affordable for other teams, too.
Whether Crosby told Russini recently or long ago that he'd like to play for Vrabel, and regardless of his intent, the Patriots suddenly feel like a place to watch for in a trade. He'd be joining several of his former Raiders teammates in New England, as well as his former head coach, Josh McDaniels.
While these are just a few breadcrumbs, it will be interesting to see how the situation regarding Crosby unfolds this offseason. If Las Vegas was ever going to dish its superstar defensive end, it would be at the beginning of the rebuild that it is about to go through. And it feels very likely.