Will Maxx Crosby's Absence Provide a Competitive Edge to Giants?

The banged-up Giants' O-line will face a Raiders defensive front that will be without its star defensive end. Can the Giants cash in on that?

Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby has been declared out of Week 17's game against the Giants. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

The New York Giants, who are squarely focused on getting their first road win in over a year and their first win for interim head coach Mike Kafka, may have caught yet another break from the Las Vegas Raiders, this week’s opponent.

The Raiders, who earlier this week placed tight end Brock Bowers and safety Jeremy Chinn on IR, will be shutting down defensive end Maxx Crosby, their top pass rusher, for the rest of the season, according to FOX Sports insider Jay Glazer.

Scoopage: Raiders told Maxx Crosby they want to shut him down last two games. Crosby, who has played with injuries for much of the year, vehemently disagreed and has left the building @nflonfox has learned. This could lead to questions on his future in Vegas

— Jay Glazer (@JayGlazer) December 26, 2025

Crosby, who has been dealing with a knee injury that kept him out of practice this week, was officially listed as out on the Raiders’ final injury report.

Glazer also reported that Crosby disagreed with the Raiders’ decision and left the team’s facility upon learning that he would be shut down, a report confirmed by Raiders head coach Pete Carroll on Friday during his daily news briefing.

"He's been fighting this thing for nine weeks, whenever Kansas City was, and each week, he has done everything you could imagine a guy could do to play, and he's been able to, and they've worked with him to get through it,” Carroll told the local media. 

“After an evaluation we did Monday or Tuesday, whenever it was, it just looks too bad. And so, he doesn't want to take the news like that, and I don't want to take the news like that. … 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." 

Good news for the Giants?

For the Giants, who are not interested in tanking to retain the first overall pick in the draft, the absence of Crosby is good news. Crosby leads the Raiders with 10 sacks–three more than the combined total of Jonah Laulu and Malcolm Koonce, who are second and third on the Raiders in the sack category.

In his last four games, Crosby recorded four of his ten sacks, going three straight games (Weeks 13-15) with at least one full sack. However, that streak was snapped last week in the Raiders’ loss to the Houston Texans.

Crosby, who was just elected to his fifth career Pro Bowl, had also recorded 10 of his 20 quarterback hits this season from Weeks 11 onward.  Currently, he sits 13th on ESPN’s edge pass rush win-rate leaderboard, with a 15% overall PRWR and a 23% win-rate coming off the edge, which is third, behind Micah Parsons of the Packers (31%) and Kyle Van Noy of the Ravens (25%).

Tyree Wilson is listed as the next man up on the Raiders’ unofficial depth chart.

Giants OT Jermaine Eluemunor Reacts to Crosby News

New York Giants offensive tackle Jermaine Eluemunor used to practice against Maxx Crosby when he was with the Raiders. | David Banks-Imagn Images

Giants right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor, who was set to line up against Crosby for most of the afternoon, took to X/Twitter to express his disappointment at not being able to see Crosby, against whom he practiced during his two seasons in Las Vegas before joining the Giants.   

Either way you’ll get my best Sunday but that’s disappointing

— Jermaine Eluemunor (@JEluemunor) December 26, 2025

Eluemunor has been playing some of the best ball of his career. Per Pro Football Focus, he’s surrendered 19 pressures this season for a 97.7 pass-blocking efficiency rating. 

That’s ten fewer QBPs from a year ago, his first with the Giants, and his best showing to date in seasons in which he’s played at least 900 snaps.

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