Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby is a great player, a great leader, and a great source for unfiltered candor.
Especially when someone stirs him up.
Recently, he was stirred up by former Browns G.M. Mike Lombardi, a long-time personnel executive turned talking head. Appearing on Pat McAfee’s show, Lombardi offered some opinions about Crosby.
Specifically, Lombardi was perturbed by the fact that Crosby wasn’t physically present for the Week 4 win over the Browns, due to his high ankle sprain. Lombardi suggested there’s an issue between Crosby and head coach Antonio Pierce.
“That bothers me,” Lombardi said, via Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “That tells me there’s something going on in the locker room.
“There seems to be more than one disconnect. Crosby has always been the team guy, but when he doesn’t show up to a game, that tells me something without knowing something.”
Crosby, who returned to take 83 percent of the defensive snaps on Sunday in Denver, sounded off in the locker room.
He didn’t mention Lombardi by name, referring generally to the critics (or critic) as “clowns.” But he was clearly talking about Lombardi, given the context of the remarks.
And Crosby pushed back hard against the idea that, like receiver Davante Adams, Crosby wants out of Las Vegas.
“Come on, bro,” Crosby said. “You know where I want to be. You think I want to be anywhere else? No. I have this shit tatted on my body. I don’t want to go anywhere.”
Really, there’s never been any indication that Crosby isn’t happy in Las Vegas. In contrast, anyone who watched the Receiver series on Netflix knows that Adams wasn’t happy. Crosby has been the opposite. Committed, loyal, unwavering.
Surely, he’s not the first player with a high-ankle sprain who was sufficiently determined to get himself healthy that he skipped the game to focus on rest, recovery, and rehab.