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The Las Vegas Raiders are starting to form a solid roster. Maxx Crosby is one of the Raiders' biggest rising stars. The former fourth-round pick out of Eastern Michigan took the league by storm during his rookie season, logging 10 sacks. He has never let up and has blossomed into one of the NFL's most valuable defensive players. Apparently NFL personnel agree that he is one of the best edge rushers in the game.
ESPN's Jeremy Fowler spoke to various NFL personnel including executives, coaches, and scouts. Fowler used that information to construct a comprehensive top 10 edge rushers list for the 2024 NFL season. Raiders fans will not be surprised to learn that Maxx Crosby received high marks in the rankings. In fact, Crosby ranks fifth in the NFL among all edge rushers.
According to the article, some voters ranked Crosby in the top three ahead of T.J. Watt, Micah Parsons, and Nick Bosa. Obviously all of the votes are weighted which accounts for Crosby being fifth in the real ranking. However, it is encouraging to know that some view Crosby as clearly one of the best in the NFL ahead of household names.
Crosby logged 14.5 sacks last season, which caused the Raiders to hand him an extra $6 million as a gesture of respect.
“He reminds me a lot of Kevin Greene — technically sound, best motor in the league, will outwork you for sacks,” an NFL coordinator said. “Doesn't have the elite traits of some of the others but his traits are still high end.”
The article notes that Crosby is always making tackles behind the line of scrimmage. In fact, he has eclipsed 20 tackles for loss in back-to-back seasons.
Raiders' edge rusher Maxx Crosby putting in the hard work, wants to become ‘best in the world'
It is no surprise to Raiders fans that Maxx Crosby holds himself to high standards. He's also a bit of a workaholic.
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Therefore, it is only natural that Crosby has set himself the highest goal there is for a professional athlete. He wants to become the best in the world.
Crosby recently shared this ambition with ESPN's Paul Gutierrez.
“My one goal is to be the best in the world, pound for pound, and I talk about it, I'm about it, I live it every single day and whatever street I've got to travel to get to where I want to go, I'm going to do that,” the Raiders defensive end said this week while serving as a counselor at the ‘Sack Summit' in Las Vegas. “So I'm exhausting every single resource I possibly have to have the best season of my career.”
Crosby subscribes to the idea of “no days off” — he says he's on the grind every day of the year.
“You talk about fight camps [lasting] maybe three months, four months; I do it 365 [days],” Crosby said. “So that's why I feel like, at the end of the day, my consistency is what separates myself and it will only keep getting me better because I don't leave any stone unturned.”
Consistency is good, but Crosby also needs to learn to balance his competitive spirit with the realities of wear and tear on his body.
We can't wait to see Crosby sack some quarterbacks later this fall!
