Make no mistake, Maxx Crosby is not just the best player but also the heart and soul of the Las Vegas Raiders franchise. And what makes him such a great player and leader is that he never rests on his laurels.
Crosby is coming off the best season of his career, which is impressive as he was banged up all season long and severely limited. In fact, Crosby had multiple surgeries once the season ended to fix those issues that bothered him. But Crosby is also taking the lessons he learned last year to continue to improve going forward.
The Raiders star recently spoke on this, saying that he had to make adjustments in practice because the most important thing was being available to play on Sunday, via Ezekiel Trezevant of Sports Illustrated:
“I was damn near limited every single day, the whole season in practice, and things like that,” Crosby said at Von Miller’s annual Sack Summit. “And I had to learn to make an adjustment because I can’t just go out there and run my knee into the ground. I had to be ready for Sunday.”
Crosby would continue on, saying that he has taken that mindset into this offseason and making it clear that he will do everything in his power to accomplish his goal of being the best football player in the world and have the best season of his career:
“It made me take a step back so I could take three steps forward, and I feel like that’s what this offseason was all about,” Crosby said. “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. So I’m exhausting every single resource I possibly have to have the best season of my career.”
Last season, Crosby set career-highs in total tackles (90), sacks (14.5) and tackles for loss (23) while finishing fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting. Of players with at least 10 sacks last year, Danielle Hunter was the only one besides Crosby to even reach 80 tackles, and those 23 tackles for loss led the league, showing just how impactful Crosby was across the board for the Raiders.
To be able to outdo that season is difficult to ask for anyone, but Crosby is going to at least put in the work to make it possible. Even if the numbers don’t match, there is no doubt he will be hell for the opposition to deal with all season long as he looks to bring the Raiders back to the playoffs.
Maxx Crosby invited all Raiders defensive linemen to attend annual Sack Summit
These comments from Maxx Crosby came at the annual Sack Summit, which was founded by Von Miller and at which Crosby was a teacher and speaker this year. As more proof of his leadership, he invited all of the Raiders defensive linemen to attend the camp, which they did.
Crosby noted that he asked his teammates months ago that he wanted them to attend and they were all there, learning and growing from some of the best to ever do it. He added that the Raiders line is on a mission to be the best in the NFL period.
