Former Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Will Compton and current Tennessee Titans tackle Taylor Lewan recently released an episode of their podcast, “Bussin’ with the Boys.” This episode featured a sit-down interview with Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby. In the episode, which you can find here, Crosby discusses a variety of topics, such as his career goals, where things went wrong for the Raiders this season, his thoughts on Josh McDaniels, and much more. One thing that raised some eyebrows was his account of how the benching of Derek Carr went down.
Maxx Crosby & Derek Carr Were Close
One thing that many may not have known was how much time Crosby and Carr spent together. Crosby explained how the two were often the first ones in the building by a wide margin and thus went through their morning routines together.
It was tough, bro, and I remember that morning… I’m sitting there, and you’re hearing rumors like, “Okay, is Derek going to get benched this week?” You know what’s going on, blah blah blah, and you’re just kind of hearing rumors, but you know how it is, and you don’t believe all of this s***. You’re just like, “Okay, we’ll see,” and then all of a sudden, we went in that morning, and me and DC are always the first two guys in there, and we sit there and eat breakfast. It’s like squad is at eight o’clock; we get there at six o’clock and sit and eat breakfast together. We talk, we go in the hot tub, I go and take a dump, and then he goes and does whatever he does—you know what I mean.
How Crosby Found Out…
This routine ended being what tipped off Crosby that something was happening.
I go in there, and DC isn’t there. That’s when, in my head, I’m like, “F***!” Something went down. I’m in my locker about an hour later; I just got out of the hot tub, and DC walks in, and he looks at me, and I just knew right away.
He just gave me a man hug and was like, “Bro, I don’t want to make it look like I’m, you know, quitting on y’all or anything, but me and Josh talked. “I’m going to go home for these next two weeks and figure out my situation.” Obviously, they had their business behind the scenes, and they’d had an agreement, so it wasn’t like he was just like, “F*** it, I’m not showing up.” It was just business. So, yeah, it was tough, especially since DC is my boy.
That’s how the news was broken to one of the team’s captains. That was just an accident too. Had Crosby not been there, who knows how he would’ve found out? Carr was just there one day and then gone the next. That’s a lot of cloak and dagger. The way it was handled seems very impersonal, especially considering the fact that many guys on the team, including leaders like Crosby and Josh Jacobs, have only ever known NFL life with Carr as their quarterback.
Also, it seems like this has been brewing for a while. The way that Crosby said he just kind of knew when he saw Carr gives off the vibe that it wasn’t a huge surprise. That gives more legitimacy to the rumors that the Raiders brass soured on Carr within weeks.
While this interview doesn’t paint the whole picture, it definitely provides more insight. It gives more credibility to some things that Raider Nation has suspected for a while. Derek Carr’s fate may have been decided long before his benching. Also, this says a lot about how Josh McDaniels views his relationship with his players. This regime is cold and calculated.
*Top Photo: Ethan Miller/Getty Images
