The Las Vegas Raiders' defense has the potential to be one of the best in the league based on the strength of its defensive line.
Veteran defensive end Maxx Crosby has developed into one of the top defensive ends in the National Football League. Adding defensive lineman Christian Wilkins will take some of the opposing offense’s attention off of Crosby, which should allow Crosby to have one of the most successful seasons of his career.
Crosby’s success on Sundays has become expected for the Silver and Black. However, as well-known as Crosby is for his production on game day, his practice habits have become even more famous around the Raiders’ facility. At times, Coach Antonio Pierce has to take Crosby off the field just so the Raiders’ offense can get productive practice repetitions because Crosby practices with such a high intensity.
“It’s difficult when you have a player of his [Crosby's] magnitude,” Pierce said. “The way that he practices, the effort–that's where he gets you. When our guys get tired and everybody in the league, it happens to them, and all of a sudden, on play six, here comes Maxx.
“But, I think when we’re doing things as a team, certain things you have to get off. There’s certain plays we want to see. Sometimes, you have to pull him off on those plays to get the look for the offense. He is that type of player now in his career where when he makes up his mind, he is unblockable. I think he understands that [and] we understand that there is a fine line.”
Pierce said that Crosby has more than proven he knows how to prepare mentally and physically. However, as Crosby enters his sixth year in the NFL, Pierce said the time has come for the Raiders and Crosby to depend more on the depth behind Crosby. It will help develop the Raiders defensive linemen behind Crosby on the depth chart and also help prolong Crosby’s career.
“The one thing about Maxx that I don’t worry about is his conditioning and if he is ever ready to play a game,” Pierce said. “The most important thing that Maxx and I talked about, though, was depth. Maxx has played over 1000 snaps each and every year in his career.
“We have to be smart, and Maxx has to be smart as he gets older. We need that Tyree Wilson. We need those [Janarius] Robinsons, the Malcolm Koonces of the world, to really step up. The only way you feel that pressure is when you don’t have 98 on the field. Now, it has to be the next-man-up mentality, and I think he’s bought into that as well.”
