Michigan native remembers Detroit’s draft-day snub

Maxx Crosby will face his childhood team on Monday night when his Las Vegas Raiders head into Ford Field to face the Detroit Lions to wrap up Week 8. The star pass rusher was born in Michigan and was a self-described “die-hard” Lions fan growing up. After moving to Texas as a pre-teen, Crosby moved back to his home state to play at Eastern Michigan, which helped springboard him to the NFL.

Crosby opted to turn pro in 2019 and was ultimately selected by the Raiders with the No. 106 overall pick in the fourth round. As one might imagine, being selected by his hometown Lions likely would have been a thrill for Crosby, but the organization passed on him three times before he was ultimately off the board, opting for T.J Hockenson (first round), Jahlani Tavai (second round) and Will Harris (third round) instead.

“I wouldn’t say I was mad,” Crosby told NFL Media over the weekend, via NFL.com. “But, I remember everything. I remember everything. Let’s just leave it at that.”

While Crosby has faced the Lions before (back in 2019 during his rookie season), this will be Crosby’s first trip up to Ford Field in his NFL career.

“I cannot wait,” Crosby said of playing in Detroit. “That’s all I can say.”

The 26-year-old comes into this game with 6.5 sacks on the year and 40 total tackles. Crosby entered Week 8 with a league-leading 43 pressures on the season and is third in the league in that category with 124 pressures since the start of last season, only trailing Nick Bosa (134) and Micah Parsons (133).

While getting his team back to .500 on the year is the main priority, exacting a little revenge against his hometown team that snubbed him when he came out of Eastern Michigan will certainly be a nice cherry on top of a possible Las Vegas victory.