Maxx Crosby says Jon Gruden threatened to cut him for unbelievably petty reason
Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby is one of the premier pass-rushers in the NFL.
However, he recently admitted during an appearance on Barstool Sports’ “Pardon My Take” podcast that his eagerness to prove himself as a rookie fourth-round pick during his first training camp in 2019 nearly cost him his job when Jon Gruden was coaching the team.
“He literally threatened to cut me on the middle of the field my first training camp,” Crosby said. “…It was like the second week of training camp, I swat a ball down and I’m [expletive] hype, celebrating, and he’s looking at me all irritated. Then it happens again — boom swat a ball down. And it happens at the end of practice for the third time. He’s like, ‘Stop swatting the [expletive] ball down. I’ll [expletive] cut your a-s, I swear to God.”
Crosby had four batted passes during his rookie season, which has since become a specialty of his as evidenced by the four or more batted passes he's recorded in three of his five seasons.
The 26-year-old edge-rusher maintained that Gruden, an offensive-minded coach, would become irritated when defensive players wouldn’t allow the quarterbacks to have clear passing lanes during practices.
“He would get so mad about batting balls,” Crosby added. “Like in practice, doing team (drills) and he would refuse to let us bat the ball. I would tell him, ‘Why the [expletive] are we practicing not batting the balls, but in a game they’ll be doing the same [thing]?’”
Gruden was fired in 2021 after a New York Times report exposed a series of emails in which he used misogynistic, racist and anti-LGBTQ language. He blamed NFL commissioner Roger Goodell for the leak and has since filed a lawsuit against the league.
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