The Las Vegas Raiders upset superstar Maxx Crosby at the end of the 2025 NFL season when they shut him down for the final two games. Both Raider Nation and the team knew that Crosby could have played through what was ultimately discovered to be a torn meniscus suffered way back in Week 3.
But the organization chose to sideline the All-Pro defensive end in an attempt to protect him from himself, and to help cinch up the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. As a result, Crosby did not injure himself further and got surgery a bit early, and Las Vegas remained atop the draft board.
While that all sounds good, the fanbase, and surely the front office, don't know what to make of Crosby's current relationship with the Silver and Black. A star on a bad team like Crosby is always involved in trade rumors, but the Raiders' $106.5 million man is generally quick to quiet the noise.
Crosby has been suspiciously quiet this offseason, however. Until now.
Maxx Crosby admits he hasn't spoken to Raiders in weeks
At an event for his foundation in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Crosby was asked about the Raiders' ongoing coaching search and whether or not he has been involved or consulted. Not only did he say that he hadn't been, but he admitted that he hasn't talked to the team's brass in weeks.
"Not really, no," Crosby said. "I haven't talked to them, not in the last couple weeks. I've just been focused on, like I said, my family and my girls, and getting healthy. I haven't talked to them in a while."
Now, this could all be a big nothing. Perhaps Crosby just needed a break after another grueling and ultimately fruitless season, and he truly is just laser-focused on spending time with his family and recovering from yet another surgery, his eighth since joining the NFL in 2019.
But Raider Nation also can't help but feel like there is something left unsaid here. It is a well-known fact that Crosby has been involved with the coaching search in years past, and his being detached from it could mean one of several things.
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The first, and more unsettling, is that Crosby isn't interested because he doesn't think he'll be around to play under whoever is hired. Crosby stuck his neck out for Antonio Pierce and was the only player at John Spytek and Pete Carroll's introductory presser. Now, he is mysteriously absent from it all.
Another school of thought is that Spytek and minority Tom Brady are simply doing things differently. They are putting their heads together and choosing who the Raiders' next head coach will be, and they don't want to be influenced by too many external factors.
Whether that rubs Crosby the wrong way or not is unknown. But these comments made by Crosby leave Raiders fans unsure of what to feel or how to react. Is this just business as usual under the new regime? Is it an indicator of what his future holds in Las Vegas? Perhaps we'll never know.
On the surface, Crosby taking some time off and focusing on getting healthy is great, and letting Spytek and Brady make the big decisions is probably how functional franchises are run. That's a glass-half-full way of looking at things here.
Change is good for an organization like the Raiders, and this is certainly different than offseasons past.