For the first time in a long time, things are looking up for the Las Vegas Raiders. After years of mediocrity, the team is coming off its best season since 2016 and has made the move to the desert to usher in a new era.
A large amount of the excitement surrounding the Raiders is thanks to their great group of young players, like Josh Jacobs, Hunter Renfrow and Darren Waller, who led the offense to some of their best numbers since that 2016 campaign. Of course, the Raiders defense looks just as good, giving up the eighth-fewest rushing yards in the NFL this past season.
Much of that defensive strength is thanks to rookie lineman Maxx Crosby. The fourth-round pick quickly emerged as one of the Raiders’ most electric players, using his strength and speed to burst past opposing offensive lineman en route to his 10-sack season.
While talking about rookies around the NFL that are set to have big second seasons, former New York Yankees pitcher and Bay Area native CC Sabathia selected Crosby, predicting him to total over 14 sacks in 2020, via Raiders.com:
“The Raiders drafted good last year. [They] got Johnathan Abram, Josh Jacobs, but I’m going with my man Maxx Crosby. I was excited, I watched him all [of] ‘Hard Knocks’, I fell in love with him. He had 10 sacks last year, second among rookies. I’ve got him going 14.5 sacks [next year]. It’s right there with TJ Watt, we’re sliding right in. I feel he could be that type of player. You know what’s crazy? I could actually buy Raiders jerseys now, I’m going to order me a Maxx Crosby jersey.”
While 14.5 sacks is up there with some of the best numbers in the league, it is not completely unrealistic. Crosby only got better and more confident with each passing week in his rookie year.
Crosby did not even notch a sack until his fifth game played, coincidentally his first game as a starter. After two more games of coming off of the bench, Crosby permanently entered the starting lineup and even had a game with 4.0 sacks against the Cincinnati Bengals.
With those kind of numbers as a rookie, there is no doubt that a lot will be expected of him in 2020. Sabathia certainly will not be alone with his order of Crosby jerseys. Unfortunately, Las Vegas Raiders gear will not be available until the week of the NFL Draft this April.
