Raiders defensive end Maxx Crosby set a career high with 14.5 sacks during the 2023 season, but he wasn’t at full strength while posting those numbers.
Crosby had surgeries on his knee and thumb after the end of the Raiders’ season and he said “it’s been a hell of an offseason” as a result of those injuries. The focus has been returning to his pre-injury form while also working on “taking that next step” as a player during the coming season.
“I was damn near limited every single day, the whole season in practice, and things like that,” Crosby said, via Paul Gutierrez of ESPN.com. “And I had to learn to make an adjustment because I can’t just go out there and run my knee into the ground. I had to be ready for Sunday. It made me take a step back so I could take three steps forward, and I feel like that’s what this offseason was all about — my one goal is to be the best in the world, pound for pound, and I talk about it, I’m about it, I live it every single day and whatever street I’ve got to travel to get to where I want to go, I’m going to do that. So I’m exhausting every single resource I possibly have to have the best season of my career.”
Crosby’s injuries didn’t keep him off the field as he played every game for the fifth time in his five NFL seasons and matching that durability with better health would be a step in the right direction for the Raiders’ hopes this fall.