It’s been a wild offseason for Las Vegas Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby, the craziest since he was drafted by the club almost a decade ago and had to go through the pre-draft process.
Crosby’s offseason started a couple of weeks early, when the Raiders infamously decided to shut him down for the final two games of the regular season to get a jump start on the recovery process for a torn meniscus in his knee. That drove a temporary rift between the player and the organization to a point where an agreement
was made to trade him to the Baltimore Ravens, leading to a 13-minute goodbye video for Raider Nation, only for that deal to fall through just days later.
All of that, combined with having some downtime while rehabbing his knee, seems to have led the five-time Pro Bowler to take an introspective approach heading into his eighth NFL season. While Crosby hasn’t been cleared to fully participate in OTAs or mandatory minicamp and won’t be practicing until training camp, he’s been present at the facility the entire time.
On Wednesday, June 3, the pass-rusher spoke to the media after an OTA session and shared what he’s learned about himself over the last six months, providing a lengthy and detailed answer rather than the typical, short, cliche reply.
“Yeah, honestly, just the whole offseason in general, I faced a ton of adversity. There’s been a lot of bullets flying in my direction. And truly, you figure out who you are in those types of moments. And everyone has a different quote about pressure makes diamonds and all these different things and sayings and things like that, but ultimately, it’s real,” Crosby explained.
“And you could talk about it, and you could say, ‘Yeah, man, I can go through this adversity, I’ll be fine if this happens to me.’ But whenever it’s really going on, you figure out who you are, and you have a choice: you can fold or you can respond. And I know myself. I’m not working to just come back, I’m coming back better, and that’s my mindset.
“I know that and I believe it, and I prepare and work like an animal daily, and I do it for my teammates. Those guys see me and I want to show them that even if I’m not on the field, I’m on the bike, going just as hard, getting in shape so I can be ready when I’m back out there with them. And I’m trying to set that example and standard on a daily basis. This has been an amazing offseason.
“I know the biggest pet peeve of mine is when people see me, they’re like, ‘Man, you good?’ and I’m like, ‘S***, I’ve never been better.’ Honestly and I don’t just say that just to say it, I truly mean it and believe it. I have great people around me. My circle’s never been tighter and I go to war with two to three foxhole guys; I don’t need 15 people with me. I’ve got the right people around me, truly, and it’s extremely special.
“So, yeah, man, it’s been a great recovery process. Me and Rick Slate (Raiders’ assistant head strength and conditioning coach), my guy, we’re together probably more than me and Rachel, and that’s for sure. That’s my wife, and me and Rick are together every day, working and working and working, finding new ways to improve.
“And I say it has been better because I’ve been able to focus on other different things; whether that’s being in the weight room – I’m moving more weight than I ever have and doing things in a different way and able to get my body probably the proper rest that it actually needs. I know one speed, I’ve only been on ‘Go’ for the last 20-something years, working my tail off, I know that.
“So, this has forced me to have to take a step back in certain areas and not run 8,000-yards on the field every single day. I’m able to grind in a different way and able to stay calm, especially. I was on crutches for two months, somebody like me that can’t sit down is on crutches for two months. That alone is going to test you as a human being and especially on top of all the other stuff.
“But honestly, everything happens for a reason, man. I know I’m meant to be here for a reason; I believe that, and I’m so excited to be here in front of the fans, man. I can’t wait to get out there and see the fanbase and feel the fanbase when you’re back out at Week One versus Miami, it’s going to be legendary.”
One of the few short answers Crosby gave during the press conference came when he was asked about what happened with Baltimore. He said he isn’t interested in talking about that situation anymore, referring to it as “water under the bridge”. But the long-time Raider was willing to reaffirm his commitment to the franchise.
“Yeah, I’m fired up,” the defensive end replied when asked about how excited he is to play with this year’s team. “Everyone knows my love and appreciation for this organization, that never changed from day one. It’s part of the business; there’s a lot of other things that don’t need to be discussed, but ultimately, I’m exactly where I want to be.
“I’m excited. And just being here with this group, we have an extremely smart and great leader of men in Klint Kubiak, a coaching staff that is very detailed and very, I would say, attentive with everything they do. They’re very intentional with everything that we’re trying to accomplish.
“We’re not just going out there checking boxes, we’re trying to get things done the right way and establish a foundation so that when the season comes, we’re not out there making s*** up. It’s just we go out and play football and we have a plan, and this is how we need to execute. So, they’ve been really good with that.
“I think Robbie [Leonard] is another big part of that. Obviously, everybody deserves their credit. We have a lot of work to do, but ultimately, Robbie stepping into a D coordinator job is really awesome. I’ve been able to see him and work with him as my D-line coach for years, and now that he’s able to get the D coordinator job, he earned that, and I think he’s doing a really good job, and he just brings juice every day.
“I feel like we have a lot of young energy in the building. I’m 28 years old and I feel like the old man in the room now, so it’s honestly crazy. But at the same time, I think everybody’s doing their part, everyone’s learning, everyone’s trying to be the best version of themselves, and you can’t establish that overnight. You’ve got to do it right now, we’ve got to do it every day, and every time you step in this building you have to be intentional with how you’re trying to accomplish your work.”
Crosby has been here before, though. Including Rich Bissacia’s interim stint, he’s played for five head coaches in seven years with the Raiders and been through offseasons with four of them, Kubiak being his sixth coach overall and fifth that he’s played for during the spring. So, the pass-rusher has seen a variety of how coaching staffs approach OTAs and minicamp during his career. That begs the question, what’s different about this regime?
“I’m not into making predictions, getting too high, too low,” he replied. “I’ve been there before, and I’m always going to be overly optimistic. If you don’t believe it, you have no chance. So, for me, coming into every single season, I believe we play this game to win. We don’t go here to rebuild or have a chance or get a little bit better.
“Obviously, we have a lot of work to do, and we do have to get a lot better, and there are a lot of things that need to go in our favor, but ultimately, I’m always going to be very optimistic, and I try to feed that to my teammates. If we go into the season thinking we’re going to lose, you’re probably going to lose.
“…So, I think Klint has done an awesome job, Robbie [Leonard] has done an awesome job. Obviously, we have new coaches all over the place. We just have a lot of new energy, and it’s different, but we’re learning on the fly and learning each other. We’ve only been around each other for a few months, and we’re just building those relationships. We’ve got a lot of new guys on the roster; it’s a process and you just have to buy into it every day.
“You can’t look too far down the road, you can’t look in the past, all that is irrelevant. It’s all about where your feet are at, and that’s honestly where I think what this team is doing right now is just not listening to the outside noise, not getting too high, too low, just being present and focused on getting better, because that’s going to give us the best chance when it comes to Sundays.”
As mentioned above, Crosby still hasn’t practiced yet with his new teammates, continuing to rehab the surgically repaired knee. But the team’s best player is expected to be back on the field during the early stages of training camp, and it appears he’ll be taking a much more measured approach after some self-reflection during a chaotic offseason.
