The Las Vegas Raiders might not win games early, which could be costly for Maxx Crosby.
The Las Vegas Raiders no longer have a Maxx Crosby problem, at least in theory, but they do have something of a situation with their star defensive end. Most of the win projections have the Raiders getting six wins this season, which leads to an interesting question about Mad Maxx.
How many wins will it take for Crosby to stay with the Raiders?
The background details behind this question are fairly well known at this point. The Raiders have a bad roster, and they still serious issues with their receivers, offensive line and secondary. Lead running back Ashton Jeanty is now something of a question mark after the ankle sprain he sustained in practice on Sunday, which looked to be serious, although we’re still waiting for specific updates that may not be coming.
That means lots of losses are coming, and there’s a distinct possibility that new coach Klint Kubiak may have to punt on the season early and start looking for more draft capital. Crosby is a prime candidate to help supply some, so there’s a math equation that comes into play here.
The early schedule tells most of the story. The Raiders have two winnable games in September, at home in their season opener against the Miami Dolphins, then on the road against the New Orleans Saints.
After that things get nasty in a hurry. The Raiders might have a puncher’s chance against the Kansas City Chiefs at home on Oct. 4, but then they have a murderer’s row of games coming against the New England Patriots, Buffalo Bills, and Los Angeles Rams.
That means the best case scenario going into November would be a 2-5 record, which would probably tilt Kubiak toward keeping Crosby, especially if the defense is playing well and driving those wins.
But what if something else happens? It’s easy to see the Raiders going 1-6 or even 0-7 given their multitude of issues right now, and if that happens it makes little sense to keep Crosby around. The rumor mill will be drumming up plenty of noise well before the November trade deadline, and contenders will suffer injuries that could make Crosby even more in demand.
We already know the Dallas Cowboys are interested, and more teams will quickly surface if the Raiders get off to a bad start. There are a lot of moving parts and pieces this situation, but it’s definitely something worth monitoring right out of the gate when the Raiders take the field on Sept. 13 against Miami Dolphins.
