Las Vegas Raiders Star Maxx Crosby ‘Took Off’ After Being Benched

Las Vegas Raiders star Max Crosby seemed unhappy with the team’s decision to bench him for Sunday’s game against the New York Giants.

With the No. 1 overall draft pick potentially on the line for that Sunday, Dec. 28, matchup, the Raiders announced Friday that Crosby will miss the game due to injury.

According to Fox Sports NFL Reporter Jay GlazerCrosby “strongly disagreed” with the idea and left the practice facility after hearing the news.

The Raiders reportedly wanted to shut Crosby out of the team’s last two games this season.

The star defensive end has been dealing with a nagging knee injury since the Week 7 game against the Kansas City Chiefs, but he has yet to miss a game this season.

Raiders coach Pete Carroll confirmed that Crosby left the facility after the news broke, and said the two spoke four times on Friday.

“You know you’re broke, so you say, ‘I’d like to get out of here.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, get out of here.’ So he left,” Carroll said in a video that appeared Vegas Sports Today. “This didn’t come from him, we’ve been talking about it, it was exactly what you would think he would do and he should do. I agree with him 1,000 percent in the way he responded, and so do I. [would have] he answered in the same way.”

“Hopefully, it’s a fitting end to his long-term improvement,” Carroll added.

Crosby is not practicing at all this week.

“He didn’t want to take the news that way,” Carroll said. “I didn’t want to take this news like that. So we just worked to get to this point. He’s training on Friday. If we’d let him, he would have been out, and he wouldn’t have hesitated, but you know he’s hit the ground running.

Earlier in the week, Crosby told the media that the team that gets the top title is not the most important thing to him.

“I don’t give a *** about the pick,” Crosby said. “I’m not kidding about that.”

He continued: “My job is to be the best defensive end in the world, and that’s what I focus on every day, being a great leader and having an impact. [the front office’s] work. But that has nothing to do with me.”

In addition to not having Crosby ready for the game, the Raiders will be without tight end Brock Bowers, who was placed on injured reserve earlier this week.

The team announced Saturday that Crosby was placed on injured reserve due to a knee injury, ending the defensive back’s season.

The Raiders and Giants both hold 2-13 records this season. The Giants currently hold the tiebreaker for No. 1 overall draft pick in this year’s NFL Draft, but if the Raiders lose to the Giants on Sunday, Las Vegas will pass that coveted spot.

Holding a top pick would give the Raiders an opportunity to rebuild their roster and boost the future of the franchise.