Sad news: Maxx Crosby Las Vegas Raiders defensive end terminated his contract after…..
The Las Vegas Raiders Mad Maxx Crosby is known as a decimator and destroyer of NFL Quarterbacks, but he perpetually celebrates Mother’s Day in his heart.
Hondo Carpenter | 19 Hours Ago
Feb 8, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Maxx Crosby and Rachel Crosby on the red carpet before the NFL
Feb 8, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Maxx Crosby and Rachel Crosby on the red carpet before the NFL / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
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Las Vegas Raiders
HENDERSON, Nev.—Mad Maxx Crosby is the Godzilla of the National Football League’s gridiron.
In a sport defined by testosterone-fueled physicality, Maxx is, in this reporter’s opinion, the best defensive player in the league. He is ferocious and violent and, with his relentless desire to be great, instills fear in his opponents.
Fueled with the work ethic and commitment to excellence that drives the rare unicorns of professional athletes like Earvin “Magic” Johnson, Michael Jordan, and Kobe Bryant, Maxx has set himself apart.
The face of the Iconic Silver and Black, Maxx is known league-wide as one of the toughest and most committed players. He is a beast.
He is a beast on the football field.
Last season, playing at nearly 50%, he risked the potential of his knee going septic and having his leg amputated, but he still played football. He couldn’t let the game he loves down, his teammates, whom he honored; his coach, whom he adored, and his wife. Rachel, who never makes excuses.
No one would have been upseet with Crosby not playing. Most didn’t want him too. But to not play, he would have let himself down, and the standard he sets for himself.
Fans think they know him. They do not.
His body is tatted like a canvas from an art museum, and his frame is chiseled like marble. The cigars in the locker room after the big wins, an outspoken, larger-than-life persona, gold chains, nice clothes, and fancy cars are genuine; he is not fake.
But that is not Maxx Crosby; that is Mad Maxx Crosby.
I know and like both, but they are not the same.
I want to introduce you to Maxx Crosby on this Mother’s Day.
I first met Maxx in 2016 on the campus of Eastern Michigan University.
Chris Creighton, the EMU head coach, regularly appeared on my broadcast; defensive line coach Chuck Bullough and his family are great friends, and wide receiver coach Herb Haygood, a former NCAA All-American and NFL player, is one of my best friends.
I had traveled to EMU to see Haygood, and after the usual pleasantries, he pointed out Crosby to me, an undersized (weight), lanky youngster with a smile and a zeal for life that is bigger than the state of Texas.
He introduced me, and as he walked away, Haygood said, “I love that kid. He loves the game of football and life in ways you can’t teach. Many people have overlooked him, but he is special. Once he learns that he can do anything with his attitude, I mean anything, he can be a Pro Football Hall of Fame player, the best doctor, or a businessman that changes the world; that kid can do anything. I have to convince him of it. His work ethic can’t be taught; he has to see it. He is a great kid; anybody would love to call him their son. I mean it; I love him as a person.”
To some, that will sound like hyperbole. It isn’t.
EMU defensive line coach Chuck Bullough changed Crosby. He took the raw clay of Crosby, a young man who wanted to be great but needed someone to show him how. And Bullough began to mold him. Crosby never complained; he loved being coached, molded and pushed. Nobody wanted more for Crosby than he did, and he loved it.
For most of Crosby’s life, he had been overlooked. He spent most of his early years in Michiga.
Crosby doesn’t come from opulence or poverty. He comes from a family that values not the amount of money in your pocket or the color of your skin but your character.
Raised in a blue-collar family, Crosby’s work ethic and character are in his DNA.
Crosby certainly enjoy what having money has done for him and his family, but that wasn’t why he played, or plays. He had money when he was warned not to play, risking his body going septic. Guys that make those sacrifices don’t play for the money, they play because they love the game.
Despite playing in the heart of football country in suburban Dallas, Crosby’s lone Division 1 offer came from EMU.
He was overlooked.
While Crosby doesn’t talk about it, it hurt him. He knew he lived and approached life differently and couldn’t understand why others didn’t see it.
A source close to Crosby’s high school experience told me, “When you are overlooked, it is easy to begin to question who you are. Am I seeing things right, or are others?”
A source from his hometown of Colleyville added, “Maxx was like a young stallion who needed to find himself and gain confidence. He should have been a (Texas) Longhorn or a (Texas A&M) Aggie, but I think his moving to Siberia (Ypsilanti, Michigan) was good for him. He got overlooked, and even though he hadn’t yet learned how to get everything going in one direction, he was on his way.”
Maxx’s love for his family and his sense of loyalty to his tight inner circle are renowned.
To this day, Crosby’s circle is small but engaged. That comes from inside him. Members of his circle are as committed to Crosby as he is to them.
Maxx was desperately searching for direction, and he had the want to; he now needed the “We believe in you.”
He found it at EMU.
Chuck Bullough, himself a former great player and now a great coach, molded Crosby. He believed and invested in him. Crosby found someone who understood and got him.
Bullough, who also molded Brian Urlacher, said to me for this story, “From Brian Urlacher forward, you realize that they (elite players) have to have size and length, but they all have that energy. Whether in meetings, locker room, practice, or games, Maxx was always going full out. He let me coach him and teach him. He took coaching well. He wanted to be great, but I couldn’t teach him that. The great ones are easy to coach. I had to pull him off and never push him, the same with Urlacher.”
Crosby’s first year of playing at EMU (2016) was not a precursor for today’s Mad Maxx.
Barring injury, the man we see today is on the fast track to a gold jacket in Canton, Ohio.
At the end of 2016, nobody saw that outside Haygood, Bullough, and Crosby. Many thought he would be good, but few saw the horizon of greatness that is visible to us all today.
Crosby’s life was about to change.
Crosby met a soccer player at EMU. She was a fierce competitor.
Like Crosby, Rachel Washburn was an elite athlete, a blend of competitive heart and work ethic that sets the great ones apart.
One member of EMU Athletics described this soccer player as, “She was an assasin. She played soccerr like she was pissed off at the world, and you would be thinking to yourslef how can she look so pretty and be so, well, tough. She played soccer like Maxx plays football. It’s nuts.”
Unlike Crosby, who was still underdeveloped and lanky, Washburn looked like she would be at home on any super-model runway in Paris, France.
The warrior on the field was elegant, stunning, feminine, and fierce. These qualities still define her today. She is Maxx Crosby’s everything.
One EMU source told me, “He was smitten. He found a woman who got life and saw life like him. What Maxx didn’t know was that as smitten as he was, so was she.”
The two did what most successful couples do: they became best friends. Despite the emotions running through his heart, Crosby couldn’t immediately let her into his inner circle.
He had to earn his way into hers as well, to her credit.
Rachel earned it.
Don’t let the good looks fool you; she is a warrior. As one EMU person told me, “She looks like Ms. USA but has the heart of Xena: the Warrior Princess. Maxx needed her.”
He still does, and he brings her up daily. When you are around Maxx, Rachel will be brought up after practice, during practice, and after games in the locker room. In a masculine profession, Crosby doesn’t hide Rachel; he adores her.
Once Rachel entered his circle, it was over. Crosby now found his missing piece.
Now Crosby had another person who saw him, and he trusted her and allowed her to speak. Rachel wants only the best, and understanding him, he respects her and takes it.
Like an Elon Musk rocket, Crosby took off.
One source said, “Mad Maxx was born when Rachel happened. Maxx found himself and his why. “
Crosby went from being overlooked to not caring. Rachel had infused him with confidence. If you didn’t see Crosby now, it would be your fault.
Like Michael Jordan, who was determined after being cut as a sophomore from his basketball team, Crosby would make you see him.
He is not an egomaniac, but because he had purpose, direction, and Rachel.
Maxx Crosby had entered the proverbial phone booth with Rachel and emerged on the gridiron as the feared Mad Maxx.
Rachel hasn’t tried to control him. She did something much more valuable; she loved him. Crosby unconditionally loves her, and she unconditionally loves him.
Rachel loved him when everyone overlooked him, and Rachel loved him long before the money and the stardom.
This amazing woman, Rachel, loyal and committed to Maxx, spoke into his life.
Maxx is warm, and Maxx is gentle. Maxx is a gentleman who channels Mad Maxx.
I confess it: I love the way he plays the game. I respect that my children admire him, and as a father, I know the man, and I know they should.
Once you are in his circle, you are in.
After a successful rookie NFL season in which a legendary franchise, the Oakland Raiders, selected him, the team moved to Las Vegas.
Rachel and Maxx knew he needed help to reach his NFL dreams, to be great, a dream he knew Rachel believed in before others.
He wanted to have children with Rachel. He wanted to make the love of his life a mother so she could love them like she had loved him.
People don’t understand that Crosby wants to be great at everything he does. Being a champion is not just on the football field; he wants to be the best dad, son, husband, and football player.
Maxx doesn’t just want to be a great football player. He wants to be a great husband, father, son, friendd, football player, business man, and person. Greatness drives him, not simply football. It is a mindset, few truly comprehend.
Shannon Brown who played wtih Kobe Bryant in the NBA said to me about Crosby’s hero, “Kobe is just different, in every way. That mentality isn’t a bout basketball, it is about living life.” The same with Crosby.
Crosby’s drive is greatness in every way. That is why there was only one woman who could be by his side.
Crosby’s desire to be legendary is about a lot more than football. Millions of television viewers watch that quest every week in football. Those who know him know that is how he lives his life, a true Raider with a “Commitment to Excellence” in every area.
Crosby wanted to get sober. He had to do it to be the man he wanted and the man Rachel had proven loyal to. He did.
On October 13, 2022, Maxx Crosby held the most crucial thing in the world in his hands. It was not a Lombardi Trophy given to the NFL’s Super Bowl champion; it was his daughter, Ella Rose.
After a 72-hour delivery process during which Rachel once again showed her toughness, Crosby fell in love with his second woman. In Ella Rose’s eyes, he saw Rachel.
Somehow, Ella Rose was the perfect combination of him and Rachel, the woman he loved above all else.
Crosby, ever the tough guy on TV, melted. Mad Maxx was nowhere to be found, but husband and daddy were.
Listening to Crosby describe Rachel as a mother, is nearly how people describe him on the gridiron. The woman he loves, as committed to greatness as a wife and mom, as he is.
I spoke with Crosby exclusively about Rachel far away from Allegiant Stadium, and the team headquarters. Now his bride, he raves about her.
He constantly reminds everyone about his Rachel on and off the record. She is his foundation, his everything, and he heralds and appreciates her.
I asked him what having a Rachel in his life meant to him. Mad Maxx wasn’t present, but an emotional Crosby was.
My friend, the kid I met eight years before, stood before me, and he said this.
“It is everything. She holds the fort down. At the end of the day, she is the head coach of the house and makes my life easier.”
It didn’t take Crosby long to use his love of football to explain his wife, Rachel, “It is a team, like everything else. Honestly, it is the biggest blessing. She had been with me before I had anything, and now we are raising a beautiful daughter and three crazy dogs, and we are going to have more children. She is nothing but a blessing, having her in my life.”
While millions of Americans will celebrate Mother’s Day today, Maxx Crosby celebrates it daily.
When he wakes up next to Rachel or looks into Ella Rose’s eyes, he is reminded of why Mother’s Day is so important.
Crosby has given Ella Rose something that fame and money can’t. He gave her Rachel, as her Mother.
The respect Crosby has for Rachel, is a gift every man should want to give his children, a devotion and loyalty to their Mother.
Every day, he celebrates the love of his life, which he made a mother in Rachel, and every day, he celebrates the little girl whose eyes reflect the mirror image of the woman he adores, Ella Rose.
Mad Maxx Crosby is a generational talent — a unicorn of drive and work ethic. He knows no other way.
But without Maxx Crosby, there is no Mad Maxx.
Thousands of Silver and Black jerseys are worn around the planet, demonstrating the love and adoration of appreciative fans. They display the number 98 and the words Crosby.
When Crosby hangs up his jersey after practice, or a game, just know the only jersey he needs is the one tattooed to his heart. You can’t see it, but it is the number one, and the name on the back is Rachel.
Rachel is his number one.
Most fans don’t know that behind the jersey, behind Mad Maxx, is a Rachel, and an Ella Rose.
His heroes are the women he loves, adores, and reveres. They are the two women who make Mother’s Day every day and the two women who fuel Mad Maxx.
For Maxx Crosby, every day is Mother’s Day, and today, Mad Maxx takes a back seat, and we celebrate them.
The sporting world thanks Rachel. Crosby gets the accolades and the love, but if you look close, she is right there. His rock, his foundation, the love of his life.
Thank you, Rachel and Ella Rose, for sharing with the world Mad Maxx, and this Mother’s Day, we honor you like Maxx Crosby does every day.
