The Las Vegas Raiders became the sixth NFL team with a head coaching vacancy on Tuesday when Mark Davis announced that he had relieved Antonio Pierce of duties.
Davis' decision came as a bit of a shock considering he let Pierce stand on the podium and meet with the media, as well as the team on Monday, where he laid out his plan for the future.
But ultimately, Davis and his hiring committee felt that they could upgrade the head coaching position, so they did so.
The players advocated for Pierce a year ago to get the full-time job after his tenure as the interim coach, and Davis honored their request. None of those players were as vocal as Maxx Crosby, who had this to say in the wake of his coach being fired:
The sky is not falling Raider Nation; this is not Maxx Crosby requesting a trade. This is simply a grounded superstar, who has always been honest with the team and its fans, commenting on the reality of coaching changes in the NFL.
Crosby acknowledges the respect and love he has for his former coach and recognizes that this season did not go according to plan.
But he also knows that the next coach will be his fifth NFL coach, and Crosby has only been in the league for six seasons. That kind of inconsistency and turnover would drive any player crazy, especially such a high-profile player who wants to win as badly as he does.
With a new coach comes new players, organizational priorities, and strategies, and Crosby is not blind to this.
The star edge rusher said, "On a personal level, I gotta make the decision that's best for me. I'm gonna see."
This is not necessarily the vote of confidence that Raider Nation may want to hear, but it is the reality of the situation.
If Crosby does not see eye-to-eye with the new head coach that Davis hires, he could ask for a trade down the line. He currently has no guaranteed money left on his contract and could be exchanged for a mountain of draft picks.
This is not what most of Raider Nation wants, but it has happened before. Jon Gruden won the power struggle in his first summer as the head coach and traded away Khalil Mack in his prime for a welath of draft capital. It is not unprecedented.
Crosby did reiterate his support for Raiders owner Mark Davis, saying that "[Davis] truly wants to win more than anything" and that the two are "fully aligned, to the millionth degree" on the matter.
He continued by saying that he "loves being a Raider" and that he "wants to win as a Raider" but ended his statement with a deafening "we'll see."
Those last two words are what call his future into question.
It's possible that Crosby is sending a smoke signal of sorts to Davis, encouraging him to consider the star in the head coaching process without Crosby having to come out and directly support a candidate like he did a year ago.
Crosby will certainly have conversations with Tom Telesco soon about his lack of guaranteed money, but as far as him requesting a trade or wanting out of Las Vegas, that remains to be seen.
He wants to be a Raider, but it is not entirely in his control.
We'll see.