Fans call for NFL to discipline Raiders over ‘blatant’ tanking amid Maxx Crosby drama

The Las Vegas Raiders have just two games remaining of the 2025 NFL regular season.

But Maxx Crosby’s season is already over.

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The Raiders superstar defensive end was informed on Friday that the team had shut him down for the season due to a knee injury he has been battling all season long.

According to NFL insider Jay Glazer, Crosby left the Raiders facility upon hearing of this news, with his future of the team now in doubt.

“Scoopage: Raiders told Maxx Crosby they want to shut him down [the] last two games,” Glazer reported on December 26.

“Crosby, who has played with injuries for much of the year, vehemently disagreed and has left the building @nflonfox has learned. This could lead to questions on his future in Vegas.”

Head coach Pete Carroll – the Super Bowl-winning coach who may well be one-and-done with the Raiders following their poor 2-11 season – offered some more insight into the conversation he had with Crosby before he left the facility.

“He said, ‘I’d like to get out here,’ so I said, ‘Get out of here,’ and he took off,” Carroll said. “It was exactly like you would think he would do, and he should do, and I agree with him a 1000 percent on how he responded.”

“We talked when he was getting out of here. He’s been fighting it so hard for so long. He’s been fighting this thing for nine weeks, whenever Kansas City was.

“Each week he has done everything you could possibly imagine a guy could do to play, and he’s been able to. They’ve worked with him to get through it. But after an evaluation we did Monday or Tuesday or whenever it was, it just looks too bad.

“He didn’t want to take the news like that. I didn’t want to take the news like that. So we just worked our way through to get to this point.

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“He’s been practicing on Fridays. If we’d have let him, he’d have been out there, and he would not have hesitated, But he knows he’s banged up.”

Raiders fans left puzzled by the decision to bench Crosby

The timing of Las Vegas shutting Crosby down has drawn the attention of some observant fans, with them hosting the New York Giants at Allegiant Stadium in Week 17.

With the Giants also sitting at 2-13, the contest has been dubbed as the “Tank Bowl” with the loser of the matchup boosting their odds and putting themselves in firm contention for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL draft.

This has led to some believing that the Raiders – who have already been accused of rigging games this season – are trying to lose the game on purpose.

“The tank is strong in the Raiders organization,” one fan wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

“If they lose this game the NFL has to take that pick away from them. Blatantly, tanking no integrity,” another commented.

Others praised Crosby for wanting to go to battle for his team despite his injuries.

“Wow, Maxx Crosby is a beast, playing through injuries all season and now fighting to stay on the field? Raiders better think twice about his future, dudes like him don’t grow on trees. Hope he gets the respect he deserves,” a third fan wrote.

Prior to Crosby being told that his season was over, the 28-year-old was asked about the No. 1 pick being on the line, to which he responded, “Yeah, I don’t give a f*** about the [No. 1] pick. I don’t play for that.

“That’s not my job. My job is to be the best defensive end in the world and that’s what I focus on everyday, and being a great leader and being an influence and being that guy on a consistent basis for my team.”

Crosby, a seven-time Pro Bowler, was one of the Raiders’ few bright sparks in what has been a hugely disappointing season, in which he recorded 73 tackles and 10 sacks.

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