Maxx Crosby on Raiders HC Search: Rich Bisaccia Is 'The Best Man for the Job'

Add Maxx Crosby to the list of Las Vegas Raiders players putting his support behind interim head coach Rich Bisaccia. 

"Rich is one of a kind," he said during an appearance on the Rich Eisen Show. "Everybody's been asking, what's going to happen? Everybody knows my vote. I made that very clear. I love Rich. I think he's the best man for the job. He's come in and done such an amazing job. We won 10 games with a team that's had tragedy, loss, everything you could imagine. And he's found a way to get a group of guys to come together and win football games in January and December, which is rare. Rich is the real deal, he's a leader of men."

That followed quarterback Derek Carr publicly advocating for Bisaccia after the team's 26-19 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the wild card round.

"We all think that he's the right guy," he told reporters, before adding that he's "never seen a coach with the ear to the locker room like he has."

But Las Vegas' decision to fire general manager Mike Mayock further cast further doubts on Bisaccia's odds of becoming the next head coach, as incoming general managers often prefer to appoint their own candidate. It's unclear if owner Mark Davis will make a decision on head coach before settling on a new general manager. 

"There's due process," Bisaccia told reporters on Monday. "[Davis] has to interview some other candidates, as I well know. I'm very respectful of the process, what it's supposed to look like and how it's supposed to work. And I think we'll be in constant conversation and we'll certainly talk again before the week is over."

But Bisaccia clearly won the locker room over. Amid a turmoil-filled year for the Raiders that included former head coach Jon Gruden leaving the team after misogynistic, racist and anti-gay past emails were publicly leaked, Bisaccia went 7-5 as the interim coach and ended a four-year playoff drought. 

It was just the team's second postseason appearance since 2003. The organization hasn't won a playoff game since reaching the Super Bowl in the 2002 season.

Under Bisaccia, the team finished the regular season on a four-game winning streak, completely changing the narrative of the 2021 campaign. Whether that—and the obvious support of the players—is enough to earn him the permanent gig remains to be seen.