Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show - Mike Florio talks Maxx Crosby's handling of his Raiders discontent

Episode Date: February 18, 2026

Leila Rahimi and Marshall Harris were joined by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk to discuss the latest NFL headlines, including Raiders star pass rusher Maxx Crosby’s discontent in Las Vegas.

The score. This hour is sponsored by Riverfront Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram. Ladies and gentlemen, joining us now is a man who's got a massive brain. Mike Florio. He used to be a lawyer, then he decided to take his talents to the internet. NBC Sports. I'm sorry, I'm late.

I was talking to Robert Kraft. That is at the time for an airing of grievances. Pro football talk. I got a lot of problems with you, people. No, you're going to hear about it. on Chicago Sports Radio 1043 The Score. The NFL news never stops and neither does Mike Florio. He is the creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk.

He joins us every week at this time. On Rahimi Harrison Grody on 104-3 The Score. You can find him on X at Pro Football Talk. He's also on Blue Sky. And he is the creator and editor-in-chief. Joining us via Twitch, twitch.tv slash the score Chicago, trying to get the fireworks going on the Twitch I see. and he is on our Circa Resort and Casino Hotline, Circle Las Vegas.com.

There they go. There's the fireworks, Mike Florio. Love that. How are you today? Good. I thought it was a dud today. It hadn't been working lately. I thought they turned it off because they recognize I'm an infant. First of all, being an infant is fun. We work in sports. Secondly, isn't that the whole point is to have, if the computers are going to take over our life the way they have and take all of our jobs, Shouldn't we at least have some fun stuff along the way, like fireworks on Twitch or something? Well, they distract us with that. That's right. While AI secretly plots our demise, they distract us with fireworks.

There was a time, too, where if you would do the quote marks, it would like make balloons fall. But I don't know. That doesn't work anymore. All right. Well, we'll figure it out, I guess, as they take, you're right, they are going to secretly plot to take over. They've already created their own social network. Frankly, I don't blame them for that one. Mike, yesterday was the first day that we could see players get it. It's always the verb, right? hit with the franchise tag. It's like getting hit with a RICO charge. You're never, like, it's never just like applied to your contract. It's like some sort of, some sort of charge or some sort of punishment. You know, have you seen anybody or is there an expectation for you of somebody

who might get the franchise tag at some point with this window open? You know, it's funny. Once upon a time, they actually tried to make it seem like a good thing. Like it's a reward. You're a franchise player. You're so good. And you're, you're. you're so valued that we're going to use this thing that prevents you from becoming a free agent and making what you deserve. And I think over time we've realized this isn't good. It's never good. It's a way for the teams to keep the guy around at a number that the team is happy to pay

because it's less than and it's less of a commitment than it would be if they had to compete with whoever out there is willing to try to sign the player on the open market. So this year, look, last year there was only two. This year it remains to be seen what's going to happen. The big name is George Pickens. He had a career year in his only season with Dallas, traded by the Steelers last May to the Cowboys, 1,400 plus receiving yards, second team all pro, pro bowler.

And the Cowboys clearly want him, but they don't want to pay him market value. And he's in a position where if he was available the first day of free agency, maybe somebody would offer him a Jamar Chase contract. We don't know, because if they block him from the market with the franchise tag, he won't get it. And I know that the natural reaction for fans, they're going to hear $28 million in 2026 for George Pickens, boo-hoo. But when you get that one shot,

and for plenty of players, it's one shot at free agency and the multi-year, life-changing generational wealth. To have that taken away from you, to have that delayed for a year, and there's no guarantee you're going to get it next year. To have that taken away, that's a disparity in bargaining power between teams and players, and it's been baked into the collective bargaining agreement for more than 30 years. So he's the one that I think we all should be watching. There are other names that possibly will get tagged. But again, last year there were only two, and both of those players ended up signing

long-term deals to stay with their teams. Does that mean we're changing the way this franchise tag works in your eyes, Mike? Is it going down and maybe not that it won't ever be used, but it seems like it's being used less and less and less. I think a lot of it just depends upon whether or not a team allows a player to get to that point. And most teams that have a player who is highly skilled and highly valued, I think they've learned that the longer you wait, the more expensive it's going to get.

like Caleb Williams will never have the franchise tag applied to him. The Bears will sign him well before they're on the brink of that decision. Some teams have made a mistake. Tuotong of Iloa is going to be in the headlines very soon for what the Dolphins do with him. They had one year left on his rookie deal, $24 million under the fifth year option. They gave him a market-level contract when they didn't have to. They should have let it play out. They should have seen what he could do in 2024 and then make a decision

do we franchise tag him or not? So I just think the functional teams, when they know they have a great player, they don't play games. They don't wait around. They get that player signed well before the franchise tag dance ever begins. I think it makes sense, Mike. There is one person on the Bears who, I think maybe the most likely candidate, if there is one, but it's kind of the same idea. The position can command a high salary.

Like would Kevin Byard be a good fit for one of these, like a franchise? the transition. Well, the transition tag doesn't get used all that much anymore because I think it was 2011, that tender, that one-year contract that goes with being the transition tagged player became fully guaranteed the moment the player takes it. It used to be it wasn't fully guaranteed and the team still had some options if it wanted to do something down the road. So, and it also doesn't give the team any compensation if the player leaves. The issue with Byard, like how much of this is right place, right time, right moment, and when you factor in his age,

does it make sense to make that commitment? And the other side of the coin is, what does the team think the market for the player is going to be? Is there someone out there that is going to offer significantly more than what the bears would pay to keep? I mean, if there isn't, there's no reason to slam the door on free agency. And for some teams, and look, they have a two-week window for this. Now, there's a chance someone is going to get tagged by Friday, so it sends the message

when everyone goes to Indianapolis next week for the scouting combine where tampering is rampant. Don't waste your time trying to put ideas in the head of this guy's agent about what's out there because he's been tagged. But in some situations, it can be valuable because, you know, the bears will get wind of what may be out there for Byrd if he becomes a free agent, and that could be enough to get them to say, you know what, you know what, we'd rather tag him because we think somebody else is going to sign him if he hits the open market. So that two-week period can be very useful as it relates to the current team getting the information necessary to make a final decision.

Mike Foyer joins us as he does every week here on Rahimi Harrison Grody. Mike, I'm curious because we know that the NFL went to a lot of length to go and make sure that these NFLPA player surveys were not published. But you make your great point in saying, all they're doing is delaying the inevitable. We're going to find out what the players think about their teams and the facilities and the staffs and the ownership and everything else in between.

Yeah, this is the ultimate Wiley Coyote Roadrunner moment where the Coyote thinks he's won and that stick of dynamite blows up in his face. And it was funny to see how the NFL Crote about this, they sent out a memo on Friday, they created the impression that they'd successfully defeated the whole process, that there would be no report cards. It became clear right away, and I've read the whole opinion. The union is allowed to make them, and the union is allowed to make that information available to its 2,000 members. Do we really think that

none of 2,000 players will find a way to get that information to a reporter. And it'll probably go like this. They'll find a way to get it to their agent. The agent will find a way to get it to the reporter and it'll all be out there. And it creates a greater incentive. You know, when we are told we're not allowed to see something, if we previously weren't interested in seeing it, we now are. Because somebody wants us to not see it. There must be something good there. So they already generated plenty of interest as it as it was before the NFL won this hollow victory that the report cards can't be published. Now that we all know they don't want us to see them, I know we're going to be more motivated to find them, to cover them, to put the stuff out there that the owners don't want

out there. It is kind of ridiculous that the owners are so thin-skinned that they don't want feedback from their players to be published. But it's just an example of how NFL owners have created a world where they have no accountability whatsoever, which makes them loathe any accountability that they may endure. Well, Mike, do you also think that it's that NFL owners will realize how good some of their brethren are treating players and then they're going to be asked to meet a higher standard? Well, the teams that get it like the Broncos, they saw the criticisms in the report card and they made changes. Other owners have done that. And my understanding is it's a loud minority of owners who hate these report cards, who don't appreciate the feedback, who resent

the employees complaining about work conditions that mobilize to get this thing not killed, but at least muzzled in a way that ultimately won't be effective. So, yeah, I think that any responsible employer would want to know what can we do better. How can we take better care of? of you. I use the metaphor all the time. Every football player on every NFL team is a piece in a football machine that is eventually going to be replaced with a new piece. But that doesn't mean that the players should not be treated as human beings, that they should be given proper treatment, that their families should have proper treatment. That's one of the categories how teams treat the families of the players and you're going to have good teams, you're going to have bad teams,

and the bad teams tend to stay bad, and the dysfunction starts at the top. And it's the owners of those teams that don't want to be publicly shamed into trying to spend more money or view their players differently than they do. Mike Florio, the creator and editor-in-chief of Pro Football Talk, joining us here on Rahimi Harrison Grady. Hey, Mike, I really want to know just your first reaction to this podcast that Max Crosby sat down with Caleb Williams for over an hour, and we were trying to figure out, is this Max signaling that he's good with the Bears or is just happenstance?

It's not happenstance. but just the timing of it and the understanding that Max Crosby, even if the Raiders say they want to keep him, it sounds like he's a guy who wants to go play for a winner, and that doesn't look like it's happening in Las Vegas. Well, now I know what I'm going to be doing for an hour this afternoon because I haven't seen that podcast yet. Oh, okay. I will be checking it out. Max Crosby is dealing with his discontent in Las Vegas so differently than Miles Garrett did last year. Garrett came out Super Bowl week with this lengthy statement saying, I'm done with the Browns.

and we know what happened. Cleveland, which it usually does, threw enough money at the problem to solve it, and Garrett stayed there. And it worked out for him. Defense player of the year and single season sack record, but the Browns continue to be the Browns. Crosby, I think,

kept his mouth shut for so long and dealt with the situation in Las Vegas for so long. I think that they broke him when they shut him down for the last two games of the 2025 regular season. with a knee injury that he had been playing through, that he wanted to play through. They took from him the thing that is most important to him, the ability to go play football with his teammates and to be in that pit of competition.

He had two more chances last year, and he was deprived of that. And it felt like the breaking point. Jay Glazer has spoken to him. Jay Glazer's had some reporting during Super Bowl Week, Glazer said, Crosby's done with the Raiders. I ran that by someone who's in a position to know, and I was told to draw your own conclusions. So even though Crosby isn't coming out and saying it directly,

I think there's enough pieces there that we can come to that conclusion. Now, will the Raiders try to throw money at him? They got plenty of cap space. His contract, which was market level when he signed it a year ago, has been supplanted multiple times. And he's in about 35, 36 million. Michael Parsons at 47. So I don't know, maybe a raise will change it.

But it sure seems like he's at his wits end. And this is a guy. He told us the story at the Super Bowl last year that I, thought was very compelling. There are other guys on the Raiders team that want to be like him. How do we get like you? And he said, well, okay, well, I'll see at the gym at six o'clock tomorrow morning and we'll work out the way I work out. We'll make the commitment that I've made. And they show up for a day or two and then they don't show up again. So he's the kind of guy you want in a locker room where the others will listen to him and he'll compliment the existing

leadership and inspire the guys to go all out and be all in and be fully committed to the cause. and it just hasn't happened with the Raiders. He could be the difference for some other team that is looking for that kick that they need to get to the top of the mountain. Mike, I also want to ask you this because it came out after we got to talk to you and I know you wrote the story on Valentine's Day

and I think for you professionally, this is as good of a Valentine as it gets to hear that the Brian Flores case is allowed to be made public, that it will not be closed like per an arbitration. what do you expect to hear and what are you looking forward to hearing when it comes to information surrounding this? Well, it's not over yet and the NFL will continue to fight tooth and nail to try to convince the U.S. Supreme Court to force the Flores case into the NFL's what I call secret rigged court, kangaroo court, excuse me, of arbitration. And people ask me, why do you call it that? And the answer is because it is. Because this is what they want. They want to have every.

everything under their control. And the idea that the CEO of any company would be the person who resolves any legal claims made by the workforce against the company. I can't believe it's taken this long for it to finally be recognized as a major problem. The NFL shouldn't want to do this. It's inherently unfair. So Flores has them on the run. Now, John Gruden has already won on that point and the NFL didn't exercise its prerogative to try to appeal the decision of the Nevada Supreme Court to the U.S. Supreme Court. court. So we're going to find out who ordered the code red against John Gruden unless they settle the

case or otherwise get the case dismissed. With Flores, what it's going to mean is there's going to be a lot of depositions, there's going to be a lot of documents. If it goes to trial, it's all going to be an open court. These types of disputes need to be in open court so we can cover them and understand them and explain to the fans the way the NFL operates. There's never been true accountability. And I had Demore Smith with me two weeks ago. He's the former executive director of the NFL PA, and he made an excellent point. There's no accountability when it comes to the NFL's hiring practices, and this is the kind of thing that will make them accountable, publicly accountable, answer questions, where people can hear the questions, hear the answers, and tell their audiences what's going on.

They have wanted to keep us from getting a look behind the curtain. If this thing goes forward in court, we're going to find out a lot about the evidence, about the arguments, and maybe ultimately a verdict against the NFL that would reflect frustration and disapproval of years and years and years of systemic racial discrimination when it comes to hiring for some of the most important jobs in an organization. Yeah, yeah. If everything's on the up and up, why are they so afraid of hiding? Why do they need to hide so badly then if everything is fine? And there's the answer. Yep. Maybe it's not that fine. And they just love to control everything. That's really what it comes down to. control. They don't want

anyone second-guessing them. They don't want anyone scrutinizing them. They don't want anyone doing anything other than sitting back and watching the games and forget about it. We'll handle everything else. Don't wrap up with the other stuff. Just enjoy the games. We'll take care of everything else. And it works. It works for

a lot of fans. And for those of us who try to hold their feet to the fire, they get upset. They complain to our bosses. And you know, you have others in the media that will say, if you dare raise these questions, you hate football. I think it's a testament that you love the NFL if you're trying to help make it better. And when you have the billionaires hiding behind a screen doing whatever they want

to do with no real accountability, I think if you don't fight against that, you don't truly love football. There's a lot of that going around these days, a lot of what you just described, going around in a lot of places these days. Also, last time I checked, I wasn't in a marriage or relationship with football. So I don't really know that that matters. I am in the business of protecting people's rights and hearing the truth. Mike Florio, thanks as always. Thanks, Mike. All right, thanks. Have a great week. That's Mike

Florio. Coming up next on Rahimi Harrison Grotie here on 1043, the score. More labor talk, but it's not necessarily what you would think. The news about Tony Clark stepping down from the Major League Baseball Players Association sent shockwaves yesterday, and it also reached the player reps for each

team and a former player rep in Ian Hap, a friend of the show. He had a lot of really important things to say ahead of a season where we keep being told to savor it. So let's listen to Ian Hap next.