Raiders Send A Message About Crosby To Squelch Trade Rumors

The Las Vegas Raiders are trying to break a four-game losing streak, and rookie coach Klint Kubiak is trying to keep things from falling apart. 

He’s tightened things up with defensive end Maxx Crosby on Sunday, as Adam Schefter of ESPN reported that Crosby “does not appear to be going anywhere.” Schefter also quoted sources who said that the Raiders haven’t had discussions this season about a potential Crosby deal. 

Consider this mostly messaging. The Raiders are currently 3-4, and they’ve had a couple of bad blowouts losses during their losing streak. One more would send the trade machines into overdrive, and Kubiak wants to keep that from happening. 

He’ll need a win to do it, however. The Raiders face the New York Jets on the road on Sunday, and this is the first winnable game the Raiders have had in a while. They played the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills tough, but submitting another competitive performance won’t be nearly enough to keep the rumor mill from cranking up again. 

Kubiak has tamped down Crosby’s media comments considerably this season, dating back to training camp when Crosby hit quarterback Kirk Cousins’ arm and sparked a training camp scuffle. Both players were ejected from practice, and Crosby’s comments about being able to flaunt team rules haven’t surfaced since. 

Neither has his productive play, however. Crosby's numbers are down, and the Los Angeles Rams ran roughshod over the Raiders defense in their 35-21 win last week as they rushed for almost 200 yards. 

Schefter’s report had Crosby wanting to stay in Las Vegas, but that’s basically just more messaging. A win would even the Raiders’ record at 4-4, which would put them on the early list of potential playoff contenders with the NFL season approaching the halfway mark. 

Kubiak doesn’t seem to be the least bit interested in a possible fire sale at the deadline, and that could be about owner Mark Davis wanting wins. Davis hasn’t commented at all about Kubiak’s performance to date, and it will be interesting to see if that happens at some point this week. 

The idea that the Raiders are genuine playoff contenders is far fetched as best right now. They took advantage of what turned out to be a soft schedule to start the season with a three-game winning streak, but they were non-competitive against the Rams and the New England Patriots in two of their four recent losses.