Pro Bowl is a big deal to Crosby
Selection to game is validation of his hard work
While there didn’t seem to be an offensive tackle in the league who could so much as slow down Maxx Crosby this season, a couple of words stopped him in his tracks.
Informed by his coaches he had made the Pro Bowl before the Raiders took the field for a pivotal late-december game against the Browns in Cleveland, the Raiders’ breakout star defensive end said, “I really didn’t believe it. I had to take a moment because I broke down.”
Crosby collected his thoughts and took the field to help the Raiders to the first of four straight narrow victories to close the season.
The winning streak helped propel them into the postseason, a team accomplishment that made him more proud than any of the eye-popping individual metrics Crosby was able to post in his third season as a pro.
But there was something about the Pro Bowl nod that really impacted Crosby.
“I just put in so much work, and for my teammates and my peers and coaches around the league to recognize that, it’s a dream come true,” he said.
That journey, which will continue when he plays in the Pro Bowl in his home stadium on Sunday, did not follow the smoothest of paths.
Crosby went from a skinny, undersized linebacker from the Dallas area whose only scholarship offer was at Eastern Michigan to a two-time, firstteam ALL-MAC performer at defensive end and a fourth-round pick of the Raiders in 2019.
He showed flashes of potential with 10 sacks as a rookie in Oakland and added seven more sacks in the franchise’s first season in Las Vegas, but he struggled at times against the run and with stretches of inconsistency.
That may have had just as much to do with his life off the field as it did with adjusting to the NFL game.
Crosby recognized he had a problem with alcohol after his rookie season and decided to check into a monthlong rehabilitation program just days before much of the world shut down in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The mental difficulties of adjusting to his new way of life took a toll on him throughout the 2020 season, but Crosby was a new man both on and off the field in 2021.
He recorded 100 quarterback pressures this season, according to Pro Football Focus. That number not only led the league, but was the third-highest number recorded since the site began tracking the statistic.
Crosby wasn’t just a pass-rush specialist this season, either.
The now 6-foot-5, 255-pound, 24-year-old had the second-best overall grade from PFF among all edge defenders, trailing only Cleveland’s Myles Garrett.
Those inside the Raiders’ facility have taken note of Crosby’s progress both on and off the field.
Crosby was voted a captain by his teammates before the season and continued to make an impression in the locker room and around the building.
“Look at the relentless effort that the guy plays with every game and the relentless effort that he puts into practice,” interim coach Rich Bisaccia said. “He has become the power of example in a lot of ways.”
Crosby has cited teammate Darren Waller, who has had his own issues with substance abuse, for being both an inspiration and a trusted resource in his recovery.
Bisaccia believes the impact both players have had off the field is even greater than what the star players have done for the Raiders on the field.
Of course, it’s Crosby’s play that has earned the respect of his peers around the league as he carves out his own identity as a player.
“I’ve been fortunate to be around a lot of great players in my time,” Bisaccia said. “He’s unique in who he is. He’s unique in his stamina. He’s unique in his effort. He’s unique in his mindset. I just can’t say enough about what he’s done for himself, and then now how he’s trying to give back to others.
“So, I’d rather not compare him to anybody else. I just think he’s special and unique in his own way.”