To Pete Carroll, this was a much-needed intervention. But Maxx Crosby hardly thought so. Immediately after being told that the Las Vegas Raiders would no longer require his services for the two remaining regular-season games for his own good, the defensive end stomped away. Not because he was particularly angry. But because it was a hard stop to his ultimate dream of becoming the “best defensive end in the world”. But the equation was simple for the team: Not overworking an already injured player. In that pursuit, the front office also took more steps that Crosby would probably call extremely drastic.

“We have placed DE Maxx Crosby on the Reserve/Injured list,” the team announced in a transaction update on X. “In a corresponding transaction, we have signed DE Jahfari Harvey to the active roster. Additionally we have elevated RB Chris Collier and WR Phillip Dorsett from the practice squad.”

Going unselected in the 2025 NFL Draft, Harvey spent four collegiate seasons with Miami (redshirted in 2019 while recording one tackle) before transferring to the SMU Mustangs for the 2024 season. At Miami, he recorded 99 tackles, 22 tackles for loss, and 10.5 sacks. His best season with the Hurricanes came during the 2022 season, where he posted 31 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks.

As for his lone season with the Mustangs, the 6-foot-2, 255-pound lineman posted 31 tackles, 12.5 TFLs and 7.5 sacks to conclude his career.

Now, expected to add some pass rush juice to the dilapidated Raiders, Harvey was originally signed with the team after going unselected in the 2025 NFL Draft. However, after the final roster cuts, he was waived in August before being re-signed to the practice squad the following day. While the player was signed to the active roster on December 17, he was waived again two days later, followed by another re-signing to the practice squad last week and finally the active roster this week.

However, it’s no secret that the 24-year-old is no match for his predecessor, Maxx Crosby.

The veteran player, who has been dealing with a nagging knee injury since Week 7 but still played, was a key member of the Raiders’ defensive unit. During his Week 15 game vs the Philadelphia Eagles, Crosby recorded four tackles, one tackle for loss, one quarterback hit, and a sack, taking his season total to 10. This helped him tie Haason Reddick (4) and Trey Hendrickson (4) for the fifth most seasons of 10.0+ sacks since 2019.

Additionally, his 26 tackles for loss this season also passed legendary Los Angeles Rams defender Aaron Donald for the sixth spot. What’s more, the 28-year-old is the first in team history to record 133 tackles for loss, and his 39 per cent run stop is first among edge rushers as reported by ESPN Analytics. This was exactly in line with the player had envisioned for himself.

“My job is to be the best defensive end in the world,” he said during a team locker room session. “That’s what I focus on every day. Being a great leader, being an influence. Being that guy on a consistent basis for my team.”

In an unfortunate twist of events, his dream was recently cut short.

Despite planning to finish this season with zero games missed, the veteran player was told he’d miss the last two games of the regular season. While this resulted in Crosby leaving the team facility in anger, the team didn’t budge.

Maxx Crosby put on injured reserve

“After deliberate and thorough consultation with multiple top medical professionals, it became clear that this decision is in the best interest of both the franchise and the player,” the Raiders announced on social media read. “Maxx is the ultimate warrior, and he has fought extremely hard to compete each week with his teammates since injuring his knee mid-season.

Earlier this season, the Raiders signed a three-year $106.5 million contract extension with $91.5 million guaranteed and an average salary of $35.5 million per year. But he injured his knee in the Week 7 matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. While the defensive end kept playing, head coach Pete Carroll decided to rest him for the remaining two games of the season. That didn’t end well either.

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Crosby, reportedly, stormed out of the building after being informed about his absence. While this raised concerns about the duo’s future together, Pete Carroll quickly came forward to clarify the situation.

“He’s been fighting the injury so hard for nine weeks, whenever the Kansas City Chiefs game was,” Carroll told reporters, detailing how the conversation went with Crosby. “Each week he has done everything you can possibly imagine a guy can do to play. But after an evaluation we did, it just looks too bad.

“He didn’t want to take the news like that, and I didn’t want to take the news like that. If we let him, he would have been out there, and he would not have hesitated, but he knows that he’s banged up. So he’s talking about, ‘I’d like to get out of here.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, get out of here.’ So, he took off. I agree with him 1,000% on how he responded, and I would have responded the same way. We thought our way through it and hopefully came to the right conclusion for his long-term betterment.”

Well, hopefully it’s as peaceful as Carroll says it is.