Las Vegas Raiders fans, by and large, are glad to have Maxx Crosby back. One thing that every member of Raider Nation can at least agree upon, at this point, is their shared disgust with the Baltimore Ravens and their general manager, Eric DeCosta, for the stunt that they pulled.
From a football and business standpoint, things weren't exactly on the up-and-up. But these are also human beings that we are talking about, and the Ravens completely ignored that part of the equation, only looking out for their best interests, even if they had to screw others over in the process.
Nobody knows exactly what went down, and perhaps we never will. But Crosby broke his silence and opened up about a lot of things that occurred during his recent episode of The Rush With Maxx Crosby. He started, of course, with a joke.
"Ton of doctors out there, for sure," Crosby said, sarcastically. "But we'll leave that alone. We don't even need to give them that attention. They don't deserve it."
Then, he dove into everything that went down.
Maxx Crosby shares inside details of failed Raiders-Ravens trade
He opened up the conversation about the whole ordeal by talking about the toll that it took on him, mentally. That is an often-forgotten aspect of the dialogue around NFL athletes and what they go through during these processes.
"It was probably -- I mean, I've gone through some (expletive) in my life, I can't lie -- that whole situation was probably one of the most unique, crazy, wild up-and-down rollercoasters that I've ever been a part of, for about five days, I would say, maybe even more. It was crazy," Crosby explained.
Crosby then detailed the night leading up to it, which included a party at his house. He heard from his agent, C.J. Laboy, that the Ravens had offered two first-rounders and that a trade could go down. Not knowing what to do next, Crosby continued as normal, gearing up for Power Slap at Caesar's Palace.
But as he sat in his car, he got simultaneous calls from LaBoy and John Spytek. The idea of talking to Spytek first in that moment was seemingly a bit overwhelming for him, so Crosby opted to pick up LaBoy's call instead. Then, Crosby went a bit into the conversation he had with LaBoy.
"C.J. calls me, he goes, 'You're a Baltimore Raven.' And I was like, 'Damn.' Like, I didn't even know how to react. I was in shock. I'm like, 'Holy (expletive),'" Crosby said. "It's crazy, bro. You hear the rumors, you hear everything going on. You have this thought of, 'Okay, maybe I'm getting traded, I don't know.' And then it happens, and then you're like 'Holy (expletive), this is real.' And you can't really prepare yourself for that. I been with the Raiders my whole career, I love being a Raider, everyone knows that. ... It was a mixture of excitement, shock, unknown. Like, '(expletive), I'm really about to leave the Raiders. All those things are hitting you at once."
He wouldn't go into the details of his talk with Spytek after being traded once he eventually called him back, but Crosby seemingly felt like they had a good conversation. And, of course, Crosby never made it to Power Slap that night.
The Ravens' brass then got their hands on Crosby's phone number, and head coach Jesse Minter and general manager Eric DeCosta both spoke with the superstar edge rusher, who was excited for the change of scenery. They told him that they'd fly him out on that Monday, but things started rough.
"It's a five-hour flight, but it's three hours ahead, so you're losing like eight hours," Crosby explained. "This is the other part -- they flew me to [Washington] D.C. because there wasn't many flights (to Baltimore) (and) it was the only straight-through, and we had to drive two hours from D.C. all the way to Baltimore, after the five-hour flight. That (expletive) was (expletive) weak!"
In typical Crosby fashion, even though he got to the city late, he still found a way to get a workout in with his wife before a full day at the Ravens facility on that Tuesday. While he enjoyed Baltimore and his initial experience, things eventually took a major turn for the worse.
Crosby then met some of the Ravens' coaches and front office personnel, even some of his teammates. Everything was operating as normal, and then Crosby went to get his MRIs done, which apparently took forever.
Then, Crosby addressed the grand conspiracy.
"This is the thing: Everyone's got their own theory, conspiracy theory, no one really will ever admit, either side, what the real truth is," Crosby said. "Ultimately, it doesn't even matter. I am where I'm supposed to be, I know that. I'll just say that."
Here's where it gets a bit interesting, though. Crosby spoke to his driver, Joe, about taking him back to the facility after his scans to have a more in-depth conversation with Minter and actually meet with DeCosta face-to-face.
"Before I left, I wanted to see the head coach and just chop it up, talk football, talk ball. He's a defensive guy, never met him before like that, so I wanted to chop it up," Crosby said. "I didn't get to meet with [Minter] until the end of the day. I didn't get to see the GM at all. I thought I was gonna see him when I first got there; I didn't see him for five hours."
That bit of information certainly feeds into the conspiracy theory that Minter and DeCosta had their minds elsewhere. As reports indicate, while Crosby was at the facility, the Ravens were in conversations with Trey Hendrickson's camp, knowing they couldn't afford both star defenders.
RELATED: Albert Breer reveals how Maxx Crosby and Raiders already mended the fences
Perhaps that is why they lurked in the shadows and didn't meet with Crosby until later.
Crosby then went up to meet with Minter, and things got weird.
"I went back up (to meet with Minter), and I dap him up, and I could just tell that the energy was a little bit off. And the GM was standing in the hall, in the room next to me, to the right, and that was the first time I've seen him," Crosby admitted. "In my head, this is a whirlwind. I'm so excited, fired up, this is a new opportunity, whatever. And you could just tell the energy was off. I dapped [Minter] up and he had a blank face."
Without speculating too much about a person he had just met, Crosby sat down on the couch and revealed the hard news that the Ravens had presented to him.
"They sit me down on the couch, and he's like, 'I don't know how to say this, but one of our doctors has concerns with the results with your knee. Some of them are concerned about the future. We really want you, and this is what it is, but we're just going to have to get more and more opinions.'"
After hearing that, Crosby admitted that he was terrified. He knew that he had just gotten surgery from someone whom he trusted and is widely considered to be the best at his craft. Crosby hadn't talked to LaBoy or his surgeon yet, so he was freaking out a bit, deep down, he admitted.
He then went back to the hotel, spoke with his agent and surgeon, the latter of whom assured him that his knee was fine and that he was ahead of schedule; he shouldn't listen to those doctors. Crosby got some peace of mind from that, but then had to figure out the Ravens situation.
Toward the end of his many conversations with LaBoy in that timeframe, LaBoy was the first to warn Crosby that Baltimore was probably going to back out of the deal. And he was indeed the first person to tell him when it was official. Baltimore didn't even let Crosby know first. Or, perhaps at all.
To make matters worse, five minutes prior to that final call with LaBoy, one of the Ravens' front office members apparently called Crosby and assured him not to worry, that they would find a way to figure things out. Of course, they didn't. Before he was even off the phone with LaBoy, the news had broken.
So, the Ravens told Crosby and his family that they could catch a jet back to Las Vegas in an hour and a half, and they packed up quickly. Crosby never revealed whether or not he heard from Baltimore directly about the deal being called off. But the fact that he didn't say probably means they didn't.
Time has given Crosby some perspective, and even if some in the building may have felt awkward seeing him again when he inevitably showed back up at the facility early the next morning, the superstar pass rusher certainly didn't.
"Everything happens for a reason, truly. You can't control that, you could have never predicted that, I couldn't have predicted that, nobody on Earth could have predicted that. At that level, it's never happened," Crosby said. "I didn't know what to say (when I got back to Raiders HQ), but I'm like, 'I'm not letting nobody knock my shine or make me feel weird.' (Expletive) happens for a reason; I know exactly who I am. I'm healthy, I'm (expletive) crushing my rehab, I'm doing what I'm doing."
And Crosby left things the way that every member of Raider Nation wanted him to.
"I wasn't supposed to be in Baltimore. And that's it. I'm meant to be a Raider, it's through my damn core."