Tanking effort utimately blew up on Raiders

Sometimes tanking comes with a cost.

For the Raiders, the apparent effort to clinch the first overall pick in the 2026 draft included a decision to shut down defensive end Maxx Crosby and tight end Brock Bowers, both of whom had been playing through knee injuries. Crosby didn’t react well. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back, prompting him to request — and get — a trade.

If the Raiders hadn’t put Crosby on injured reserve before a Week 17 game against the Giants, would Crosby have asked to be traded? While it’s still possible he would have decided that he’d had enough, the decision to put him on injured reserve with two games left undoubtedly played a role.

Crosby addressed in a late-season episode of the Let’s Go! podcast the importance of football to him. He had two games left to play in 2025, and the Raiders took that away from him.

They won by losing. The Raiders got the first pick in the draft. But they lost the heart and soul of their team in the process, a guy who was willing to do anything and everything to help the team win.