It's a fun time to be a Green Bay Packers fan on the internet. Finally, the disappointment from their underwhelming Wild Card loss has subsided, and we're just now entering the part of the NFL offseason where everyone's dumbest ideas sound just slightly less stupid.
Free agent predictions! Mock Drafts! More Mock Drafts! No one's opinion can be wrong for the next four months, which is a very exciting prospect for Internet Football Fans.
RELATED: Packers' Shrine Bowl meeting confirms interest in dream first-round target
In Green Bay specifically, one of those ideas has been trading for Raiders star Maxx Crosby. Crosby's wasted a good deal of his prime playing for some truly abysmal Raiders teams, and the idea of a brand new coach and front office giving the team a major makeover this offseason gave fans around the league hope that their favorite team might be able to pry Crosby out of Vegas.
But they all forgot one piece of crucial information: Pete Carroll's one charming septuagenarian. Maybe the most charming septuagenarian? In the NFL, at least. During Carroll's first press conference as the head coach of the Raiders, he pretty obviously sent a message to every other NFL front office: Crosby's staying.
It doesn't sound like the Raiders are going to trade Maxx Crosby any time soon
"Maxx, send the message, man," Carroll said during his introductory press conference on Monday. "We're coming after you. We're going to come find you guys, and get this thing rolling as soon as possible. With the highest of expectations and with a mentality that will drive high performance in a way that, hopefully, everyone's going to hear us. And they're going to know us."
Having Crosby in attendance – and then using some of the presser to specifically talk to him – doesn't seem like the actions of a team that's actively working to trade him away. Maybe this is all just an intricate bluff by the Raiders to drive up Crosby's asking price, but also, maybe consider who we're talking about here? It's the Raiders. "Being clever" isn't really their organizational M.O.
Sorry, Packers fans. I thought it'd be kinda cool. Crosby deserves to play in some miserably cold January football game as much as anyone. Maybe once the Raiders start losing games again, all this optimism will disappear and Crosby will suddenly be available again. That's the Raiders' way.