The Ravens’ decision to pull out of a trade for Maxx Crosby is looking bigger by the week, and former Raiders lineman Richie Incognito didn’t soften his take on it.
On his Initial Contact podcast, Incognito blasted Baltimore for backing away and credited the move with helping the Raiders keep Crosby in the fold.
“Thank God that the Baltimore Ravens are f-ing idiots because they let us get back our best player,” Incognito said on the Initial Contact podcast.
Incognito went on to rave about what Crosby means to the Raiders, calling him the kind of player young teammates should study closely.
“They said ‘Okay, Maxx. You’re coming in the knee it’s a little bit of an issue but we like Trey Hendrickson.’
Maxx is thrown back into that building and… this guy is a dog. All these young guys on that team, if you want to look at what it looks like to be a pro, to be an All Pro, just look at Maxx Crosby.
Look at the hard work that this guy puts in every day. This guy kills himself all offseason during practices, in training camp, during the season.
This is the guy he’s the straw that stirs the drink.”
Baltimore said it backed off because of concern over Crosby’s knee, though there was also belief the team changed course after realizing Trey Hendrickson could be signed without surrendering draft picks.
That twist has already come back around in an odd way. Hendrickson is out of the Baltimore lineup this week with a finger issue, while Crosby will be on the field at Allegiant Stadium on Sunday, healthy and ready for one of the biggest regular season games in his career.
The matchup with the Chiefs carries real weight for the Raiders, who are undefeated entering Week 4, and it comes with Crosby still central to everything they do.
Crosby himself has been open about the knee injury he played through in 2024, describing just how severe it got.
“My [knee] bursa was destroyed and dismantled. I played 16 straight games with it.
I kept landing on it and it kept blowing out, so obviously it got infected at one point. It wasn’t just in my knee.
It was going all the way down into my tibia. Surgery ended up being 3 hours when it was supposed to be only an hour and a half.
[The surgeon] had to get every little bit of it and cauterize it and close it,” Crosby said on the The Rush with Maxx Crosby
He added that the pain lingered throughout the year.
“I would have points in the season where the side of my knee was f-- hurting me. I would have pains in the front of my quad and it was because the bursa was just smashed.
My knee will be about 2-3 months before I’m 100 percent. I literally put my life on the line to go out there and play.”
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