There has been endless chatter surrounding Maxx Crosby’s future over the past year or so. NFL fans wondered how long Crosby, one of the premier edge rushers in the NFL, would be content on a Las Vegas Raiders team that hasn’t won much in recent years. They went just 4-13 in 2024, and didn’t have a quarterback solidified.
Well, things have changed in recent days. The Raiders handed Crosby a massive extension, and now, have acquired Geno Smith in what might end up being the most surprising deal of the NFL offseason. Nobody had any idea Smith was going to be available or that the Raiders were going to be interested.
How Raiders fans will react to this news remains to be seen, but Crosby sure seems thrilled by it based on how he reacted on X.
Maxx Crosby is beyond thrilled with Raiders’ Geno Smith acquisition
The Raiders were one of several teams in quarterback limbo this offseason without a clear solution. What became apparent after the 2024 campaign was that neither Gardner Minshew nor Aidan O’Connell were the team’s solution under center, but how exactly were the Raiders going to acquire an impactful player at the position?
They could have traded up in the upcoming NFL Draft, but were the likes of Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders worth mortgaging their future for? They could have signed a guy like Sam Darnold, but was he really worth giving an absurd contract to, especially considering how he finished his season? With Matthew Stafford off the board, there wasn’t a clear target for Vegas. They wound up going with a solution nobody predicted.
Smith feels like an excellent fit for the Raiders. He comes to Vegas with a very reasonable $25 million cap hit in the third and final year of his deal, and reunites with Pete Carroll, who got the best out of him in Seattle.
With Stafford not being an option, Smith is probably the best quarterback they could’ve gotten. He’s far from the most talented quarterback in the sport, but is extremely efficient (68.5 percent completion percentage over the last three seasons) and is clutch as well. Smith led the NFL with four fourth-quarter comeback wins and five game-winning drives in 2023. He had four of each in 2024.
The Raiders are still probably the fourth-best team in an incredibly difficult AFC West, but Smith undoubtedly is a massive upgrade over what they had in the quarterback room. Given that, it isn’t hard to see why Crosby is excited. With Smith’s consistency and reliability, keeping Crosby content shouldn’t be too difficult as long as Vegas keeps him around for a little while.