Maxx Crosby’s season is over.
The Las Vegas Raiders placed their star defensive end on injured reserve on Saturday, officially ending his season due to a knee injury. The team decided to shut down the five-time Pro Bowler “with Crosby’s best interest in mind,” even as Crosby wanted to be on the field.
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Crosby is expected to undergo knee surgery in the near future that will sideline him into the offseason, too, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Further specifics on that surgery, or a timeline for his return, are not yet known.
While the Raiders may want to not risk further injury for Crosby, they are also chasing the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft. In facing a fellow 2-13 team in the New York Giants on Sunday, a defeat would improve their chances and not having their best defensive player would aid in that pursuit.
According to the NFL, this will be only the third time in NFL history that two teams that are 11-plus games under .500 will meet and the first time since 1991.
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The 27-year-old Crosby was vocal earlier this week about caring more about helping the Raiders win rather than about a first overall draft pick.
“Yeah, I don’t give a s*** about the pick, to be honest,” Crosby said Tuesday. “I don’t play for that. That’s not my job. My job is to be the best defensive end in the world. That’s what I focus on every day. Being a great leader, being an influence. Being that guy on a consistent basis for my team.”
After being informed that the Raiders weren’t going to let him play against the Giants, Crosby told head coach Pete Carroll that he wanted to leave the facility.
“He knows that he’s banged up, so he’s talking about, ‘I’d like to get out of here.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, get out of here.’ So he took off,” Carroll said on Friday, via ESPN. “… This didn’t just spring on him. We’ve been talking about it, and it was exactly what you would think he would do and he should do. I agree with him 1,000 percent on how he responded, and I [would have] responded the same way.”
Crosby has been in the NFL since 2019 and has played 110 regular-season games with the Raiders, but only one playoff game. The Raiders have only two playoff appearances — and zero playoff wins — since appearing in Super Bowl XXXVII at the end of the 2002 season.
Crosby won’t be the only Raiders star who will miss out this weekend. Tight end Brock Bowers was placed on injured reserve Wednesday with a knee injury that limited him to 12 games this season.
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Bowers, the Raiders 2024 first-round draft pick, was an All-Pro last season and has made two Pro Bowls in his first two NFL seasons. After recording 112 catches for 1,194 yards and five touchdowns in 2024, the injury affected his output this season as he’ll finish with 680 receiving yards, with 64 receptions and seven touchdowns.
