Maxx Crosby may have said the Baltimore drama is behind him, but one former Raider thinks the whole episode could end up lighting a bigger fire.
Gerald McCoy, a six-time Pro Bowler who last played in the NFL in 2021 with the Raiders, said recently that he “wouldn't be surprised if he's a Defensive Player of the Year finalist or if he wins it."
McCoy pointed to the way Crosby seems to use slights, real or imagined, as fuel.
"Maxx has a little of the [Michael] Jordan syndrome," said McCoy to Rotogrinders. "He creates these things in his head to motivate him.
People love Maxx. Pretty much everybody loves Maxx.
I don't know anybody that doesn't love Maxx. But in his mind, people are doubting him.
I don't think there's a soul on earth that watches the game of football and says, 'You know what? The person to doubt is Maxx Crosby.'
I don't think that happens.
"But in Maxx's mind, they're doubting him. 'They don't think I'm the best.
They think this guy is the best. I was a fourth-round pick.'
All of these different things run through his head and give him motivation, and it's a conduit."
The backdrop here is a trade that almost happened. The Baltimore Ravens and Las Vegas Raiders had agreed to send Crosby to Baltimore for two first-round picks, but the deal collapsed after Baltimore backed out for medical reasons. Before that, the biggest NFL trade of the season was the one that never got across the finish line.
McCoy believes that sequence only adds more edge to Crosby’s mindset.
"You trade him. That's the guy we're going to trade?
OK. And then that team says, 'Eh, I'm not really sure about the knee, let's send him back.'
So both of y'all said nope and nope. Cool, well I've got something for both of y'all."
Crosby is still being discussed as a possible trade target around the league with roughly two months left before the regular season starts, and rumors are again building that the Raiders could move him. The San Francisco 49ers and Philadelphia Eagles have been mentioned as possible landing spots.
Crosby has also done nothing to cool the chatter. A few days ago, he posted: “STOP PEOPLE PLEASING. HANDLE BUSINESS ACCORDINGLY.”
STOP PEOPLE PLEASING. HANDLE BUSINESS ACCORDINGLY. 🦅💎
And when a young 49ers fan recently asked him to come to San Francisco, Crosby answered with a warning that "You never know."
A young 49ers fan tried to recruit Maxx Crosby to San Francisco. Young fan: "Will you please... join the 49ers?" 🥹 Maxx Crosby: "I can't."🎥: @vegasraiderdad pic.twitter.com/kJZkSmY9Ix
McCoy thinks that if Crosby channels all of this the way he has in the past, the results could be big.
"It's not only going to motivate himself to prove he still is who he is, but also to his organization and everybody across the NFL,” McCoy said. “So I would expect a huge year for Maxx."
Crosby, though, downplayed the Ravens situation when he spoke to reporters at Raiders OTAs, saying, “I don’t really want to talk about that, to be honest. It’s water under the bridge, that’s a long time ago.”
McCoy’s read on the situation is much different. If he’s right, Crosby could be headed for a season defined by the kind of edge that turns good pass rushers into award candidates.
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