Getty Maxx Crosby with Josh McDaniels.
Maxx Crosby is taking a public stand against the Las Vegas Raiders. He wants the team to hire Antonio Pierce as head coach and is willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen, including considering a trade request.
This isn’t the first time Crosby has lobbied for an interim head coach to get the full-time job. He did the same thing with Rich Bisaccia in 2022 before the team hired Josh McDaniels. Now that McDaniels is no longer with the team, Crobsy had no issue talking about how that was a colossal mistake.
“We f***ed it all up,” Crosby said of the Raiders hiring McDaniels over Bisaccia in 2022 on the January 13 episode of “The Rush.”
Crosby clearly wasn’t a fan of what McDaniels brought to the table. He doesn’t want to see the Raiders go through a similar process.
“I mean, it’s pretty simple,” Crosby said. ” … I’ve made it very public, I made it pretty honest and clear. And for me, it’s Antonio Pierce, without a doubt.
“I mean, we already had this opportunity a couple years ago with Rich [Bisaccia]. We had things going in the right direction, we went to the playoffs, almost won a playoff game. But we ended up deciding to go in a different direction and start from ground zero, and that didn’t work.”
Crosby doesn’t understand why the Raiders wouldn’t hire Pierce.
“I mean, it would be absolutely ridiculous and insane if we didn’t bring back AP and give him an opportunity,” he said.
Maxx Crosby: ‘I Want to Be a Raider for Life’
While Maxx Crosby is taking a major stand against the Raiders right now, he still loves the team and wants to stay. Whether or not he wants to leave simply comes down to what they do this offseason.
Crosby made it clear that Las Vegas is where he wants to play but he’s ready to do whatever he has to do if the Raiders don’t hire Antonio Pierce.
“I want to be here, I want to win here, I want to retire here,” Crosby said. “But I mean, if we go and start from scratch again, I mean, I’ve got to consider everything.”
Crosby has become the face of the Raiders and one of their best players. Losing him would be difficult to recover from. That said, Pierce has a strong chance of being the head coach even without Crosby’s ultimatum so this could end up being a non-story.
🚨#RaiderNation Needed to hear it from Maxx Crosby himself before believing the report that he would explore another team if Antonio Pierce isn’t hired💨. Crosby confirms that report by saying NOTHING is off the table if Antonio Pierce isn’t retained‼️#NFL
What if Las Vegas Raiders Don’t Hire Antonio Pierce?
Antonio Pierce could be named as the Raiders head coach going forward at some point but owner Mark Davis is a bit of a wild card. He likes big names and there are plenty of them in this hiring cycle. Jim Harbaugh, Bill Belichick and Mike Vrabel are all available and each of them has different connections to the franchise.
Would Maxx Crosby and other players still be ready to cause issues if the Raiders were to hire somebody with a proven track record? It’s certainly possible, which is something that Davis needs to take into account. It’ll take a strong personality to win over this locker room if Pierce isn’t retained.
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Raiders DE Maxx Crosby Takes Swipe at Josh McDaniels in Passionate Rant