Maxx Crosby slams idea of Raiders tanking the rest of 2024 season

The Raiders season is over. You know it, I know it, Shedeur Sanders knows it. Everyone is on the exact same page about this year, and the fact that we'd all kinda just like it to be done with. Whatever promise the first month flashed has been gone for a while now, and their seventh straight loss on Sunday proved that this isn't just a mediocre team – it's a really, really bad one.

And, of course, you know what that means: the Raiders are prime tank candidates. Frankly, it's hard to blame fans for thinking and/or wanting that – for everything else that tanking represents, it's also the fastest way to get the players needed to pull a 2024 Washington and jump forward 1-2 developmental years overnight. It's an arguably-toxic approach that alienates a ton of players and fans, but until the NFL stops rewarding the worst teams in football with high draft picks, tanking's going to be The Way.

RELATED: Raiders tanking guide: The route to the No. 1 overall pick

Just don't tell that to Maxx Crosby. After Week 12's loss, Crosby wasted no words explaining how much he hates the idea of tanking.

Maxx Crosby has very specific thoughts on the notion of the Raiders tanking the rest of the season

"If we're not playing to win, then what are we doing," Crosby said after the Raiders' loss to Denver on Sunday. "I don't play to get a better pick. That doesn't even register in my brain. You know what I mean? I got out there trying to win. I know these guys are trying to win. We've got great players in this locker room, guys who put everything into it ... I never doubt the players and the mindset of everybody in that locker room. Guys show up every day with the mindset to get better. That's all you can ask for. I love this team, and I love my teammates."

I imagine most players feel this way – no one on the actual field ever benefits from tanking – but it's especially unsurprising to hear Crosby talk about it this way. He is as great a competitor as there is in football, so no one should be shocked to learn that he hates purposefully losing. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for the people reading this blog? I don't know) Crosby doesn't run the Raiders – that's Tom Telesco's job. And Tom Telesco's job depends a whole bunch more on getting a high draft pick this winter.