While still a player himself, Las Vegas Raiders star Maxx Crosby likes to analyze other players’ games.
Crosby was watching film of many 2025 NFL Draft prospects, including the Atlanta Falcons’ newest defensive ends, Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr.
Crosby is now the assistant general manager of the Eastern Michigan University football program, so brushing up on his talent evaluation as he looks for players to join the Eagles should be helpful.
On the latest episode of his podcast, The Rush, Crosby’s co-host, Darien Terrell, a Cleveland Browns fan, asked Crosby what he thought about their newest defensive tackle, Mason Graham.
This was Crosby’s breakdown of the No. 5 overall pick:
“He pops right off the film,” Crosby said. “You can’t say that about a lot of guys. There’s a lot of really talented players, but when someone’s different, you know. You can watch the first five plays, and you’re like, ‘Oh. Here we go. He’s making another play.’ ... As a D-Lineman, my mind is – obviously, stats are very important. Stats are huge, absolutely. When you look at D-Line play, you look at the mentality, the style of play, the disruption.”
Crosby invoked the name of an all-time great coach whom he referenced when watching Graham’s film.
“Rod Marinelli, back when I was with him, he used to have this chart, this breakdown. He has an all-time score; he’s been doing it all the way back to the Warren Sapp days, of your disruption chart. The highest scores, how many plays did you ... and things like that. So, watching Mason Graham’s film, as I started diving in deeper and deeper, some people complain, ‘Oh, he’s basically a run-stopping D-Tackle. Why would you draft him in the top 10?’ I’m like, ‘What are y’all talking about?’ Anybody who says that doesn’t watch football.
This kid’s a two-time All-American. He was great against the run, great against the pass, disruptive, hurries, pressures, quarterback hits, sacks, TFL, run-stuffs, everything across the board he did at a high level.”
Crosby hopes Graham succeeds as an NFL player – just not when he plays the Silver and Black.
