The Las Vegas Raiders have severely underperformed to begin the 2025 NFL season, but they've also been ferociously bitten by the injury bug. This was evident in Week 7 against the Kansas City Chiefs, as the Raiders were without Maxx Crosby, Brock Bowers, Jakobi Meyers and Kolton Miller.
While the latter three were ruled out before the game, Crosby sustained multiple injuries during the AFC West bout. Not only had he been dealing with a knee injury, which was compounded by a brutal hit to the kneecap by the Chiefs' Noah Gray, but Crosby also had back spasms during the contest.
This caused him to play less than 95% of the game's snaps for the first time all season. This was worrisome for Raider Nation, as the fan base knows all too well that Crosby will play through a myriad of injuries, so the assumption was that these were serious.
Raiders' Maxx Crosby on track to play vs. Jaguars despite missing practice
If anything was fortunate about the injury, however, it was the timing. The Raiders had their bye the following week, which gave the superstar edge rusher plenty more time to heal ahead of Week 9's clash with the Jacksonville Jaguars at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
On Tuesday, before the team returned to practice, Pete Carroll spoke to JT The Brick about a variety of topics, one of which was the injury status of Crosby. The veteran head coach provided an update that every Raiders fan wanted to hear.
"Maxx should be back in action," Carroll said. "We're going to give him a couple days here because he had back spasms (so bad) that he really couldn't even get started in the game. He tried and did everything he could valiantly, but couldn't go."
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Raiders fans knew that the team's heart and soul would try to play following the injuries he sustained against the Chiefs, but they would have also understood if the team opted to rest him for at least another week in a season that likely won't amount to much.
Well, fortunately, they're doing a bit of both. As Carroll stated, the team would give Crosby a couple of days to heal, and in step, ESPN's Ryan McFadden reported that Crosby was a non-participant in Wednesday's practice.
However, Carroll also addressed the media on Wednesday, and when asked about fellow defensive lineman Adam Butler's injury, he provided another promising update about both him and Crosby.
"Both those guys are on the same program, and we expect them both to play."HC Carroll on Maxx Crosby & Adam Butler
Las Vegas is still not mathematically eliminated, so the Raiders are going to do everything they can to still scrape out a few wins this season. Having Crosby back in the fold will be a big part of that, and every sign so far has pointed to his return in Week 9.