Las Vegas Raiders star defensive lineman Maxx Crosby has earned the reputation of being a true Iron Man in the NFL. In five seasons, he has yet to miss a single game, though he was in serious danger a couple of times this past season.
Crosby powered through a couple of injuries, not to mention illness and infection, in one particular week in which he was listed as doubtful, but he shocked everyone by suiting up anyway. Since the season ended, Crosby has undergone a couple of surgeries and is now feeling better than ever.
The Raiders star recently spoke about his recovery after knee and hand surgeries and said that he is feeling better than he ever has, via Nick Shook of NFL.com:
“Recovery and rehab has been incredible,” Crosby said on Monday. “I just did my conditioning tests last week and smashed it. And I’m feeling better than I ever have, so it’s been an incredible offseason so far.”
The fact that Crosby was dealing with so many injuries while putting forth the best season of his career says a lot about not only his talent but his desire to be the absolute best. Crosby admitted that he had his issues, but he was motivated to silence the doubters and suit up for the Raiders every single week:
“I was definitely banged up,” said Crosby, who underwent knee and hand procedures this offseason. “My knee was an issue, but I was able to play. I definitely don’t want to do that again and go through that — draining it multiple times every week — it was a pain in the ass.
“But we made it through, so it was even more motivation when people were like ‘shut it down, shut it down, shut it down.’ I was like no, I’m not like everybody else, to be completely honest. I just had to keep moving.”
Crosby finished fourth in Defensive Player of the Year voting while being named a Second Team All-Pro for the second time in his career. He finished the season with a career-high 14.5 sacks and 90 tackles while leading the league with 23 tackles for loss.
Getting his body right this offseason should only make him that much more dangerous to the opposition and now the goal is to parlay his individual success into wins for the Raiders.
Maxx Crosby ‘fired up’ to work with new Raiders teammate Christian Wilkins
One thing that could help the Raiders be more successful this season is a dominant defensive line led by Maxx Crosby and new free agency signing, defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. The duo should wreck a lot of havoc on the opposition, and Crosby is looking forward to what they can do together.
The Raiders star noted that while they have a lot of potential, they have to put in the work together on the practice field to be able to dominate when the season begins. But Crosby added that he is ‘fired up’ to work with Wilkins and feels they can lead this defense together.
