HENDERSON, Nev.-- Raiders star defensive end Maxx Crosby spoke to the media for the first time this league year after Tuesday's OTA session.
Crosby is entering his sixth NFL season with the Silver & Black and his fifth with the team in Las Vegas. He's coming off his second career second-team All-Pro selection as well as his third straight Pro Bowl in 2023, and the Raiders' franchise player is a popular name in first team all-pro and even Defensive Player of the Year discussions as we look forward to the 2024 season.
Crosby spent much of last battling a knee injury that left him limited in practice for essentially the entire season. He still managed to play all 17 games, but one has to wonder about just how drastic a potential statistical improvement could be this season as Crosby ascends deeper into his prime with hopefully a clean (or cleaner) slate of health.
Crosby addressed various topics during the 11 minute media availability.
On dynamic with Christian Wilkins: "We're flying around. When you talk about constantly improving and having competition, you know, those are the type of guys you want around. He works his ass off. You know, he's a guy that works. I feel like I haven't had a guy like that since, like Yannick (Ngakoue). I feel like, you know, Yannick was constantly trying to compete with me and go at it. We were competing and everything. Christian kind of reminds me of him in that way. He's a worker. So I love having guys like, you know, they're like-minded around. It's been a hell of a start so far. We got a lot of work to do., but yeah, we're just feeding off each other's energy. You know, we love football and that's, that's really all that matters."
On quarterback competition between Aidan O'Connell and Gardner Minshew: "Yeah, you know, both guys are competitors. It's a common theme today. But both those guys are competitors. Aidan has come a long way. It's the offseason, so you take everything with a grain of salt, but just seeing his maturity and seeing how, you know, he's starting to talk some shit back. And I encourage it, you know what I mean? It's like, that's what I want him to do, you know, the best of the best, they're ultimate competitors. The Mahomes, the Brady's, the Peyton Manning's, the guys like that. They were always jawing back and forth. At the end of the day, you show a little bit of weakness, people are going to hop all over that. So for him, seeing him kind of come back at us, it's awesome to see. Gardner as well, he's been in plenty of big games. He's always been the underdog. At the end of the day, you see him walk out the building or walk down the street, you wouldn't even know he's a football player. But when he, when he laces it up on Sundays, you know, you can see what he can do. His numbers stack up with a lot of guys you wouldn't even expect. So, you know, those guys are going to battle it out and the best guy is going to win. So I'm excited to see what happens.
On providing mentorship to Tyree Wilson and Byron Young: "I think it's super important. I've talked about it many times before, but when I first came to the league, I didn't have an Aaron Donald in my room or a guy that's done it at the highest level. And I seek that leadership and seek, you know, what are they doing? What's the routine? Things like that. So, you got guys like myself and Christian, you know, dudes have done it for multiple, multiple years. As a young guy, that's like your dream. You know, you want to come in and just soak up as much information as you possibly can. So, that's what we do. Christian's working mainly with the D tackles because they we're a little bit separate during like individual kind of stuff. So, he's done a great job with them and, you know, I'm leaving my group, you know, with the hands and then we all come together and we do all our meetings together and everything. So, it's just a collaborative, you know, group. It's not like, no, this is my way or whatever. It's just like we're all learning from each other and that's what, you know, makes our group really special."
On his favorite fighter, Tank Davis' upcoming fight on Saturday: "I love Tank, been a huge fan for a long time. The way he fights, his approach, his confidence, the way he goes in the ring. He has no fear in his body, you know, he just, he goes in there and he's fully himself and that's a, you know, that's a guy that I love watching. You could just feel his energy. He walks into a press conference and he, it's like he owns the place and those are the type of guys I look up to because they're special, they're special individuals, they do it their way. They don't, you know, try to fit in with anything, they just do what they do and I think that's what makes them special. So yeah, I think he's gonna have a huge knockout again on Saturday."