A lot of teams are kicking themselves these days for passing on Maxx Crosby in the 2019 draft. The Eastern Michigan product fell into the fourth round before the Raiders pulled the trigger on him.
Among the many teams who took a close look at Crosby was the 49ers. And apparently they weren’t all that nice or respectful to Crosby.
Enough so, apparently, that with the 49ers at the Raiders facility today for joint practices, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan took the opportunity to apologize for their behavior toward Crosby in that meeting.
“That’s actually funny. I talked to him on the field,” Crosby said of Shanahan “It was after one of the plays. I made a play and I was hyped and talking shit to Kyle and he’s laughing at me. I went up to him after the play and he was like ‘yeah, man, I feel like an a–hole about our interview we had in 2019.’ And I remember it because [Kris] Kocurek was in there, John Lynch, and Shanahan. And I feel like, it’s nothing against them, I feel like every single team that I interviewed with didn’t take me seriously. I could name every damn team if I want, but I’m not going to do that.”
Shanahan said he apologized to Crosby for being “jerks” to him that day. And Crosby mentioned only that there was a lot of yelling, which Shanahan said was pretty much out of line.
“It was Kocurek’s first interview, and he’d been in other places where they liked to kind of attack the guys a little bit, see if you can rattle them,” said Shanahan. “That’s not totally our style. That was the first one up. John (Lynch) was trying to touch his leg, like: ‘Kris, chill out a little bit.’ Afterward, he was, ‘What, what did I do? Sorry. My last coach really wanted me to do it that way.’ And he did it to like the coolest dude. So we tell him that was all Kris, not us.”
Crosby laughed off the specific details of what was said in the meeting, even the yelling, noting that it was not angry yelling. While at the same time, he carries moments like that with him to this day.
“That’s the past, but I remember everything, trust me,” Crosby added. “I remember all those interviews, but that’s what makes me who I am today because at the end of the day, I carry every little scar. I won’t talk about a lot of it, but I keep everything noted. Literally everything.”
Crosby took the high road about it, going on to talk about how great of a coach Shanahan is and how much respect he has for the coach and the 49ers as a team. Which, I’m sure, is pretty easy when you’re in Crosby’s position having outplayed all of their expectations and became one of the league’s top edge rushers.