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The Las Vegas Raiders have a new head coach and general manager this year but it didn’t take long for them to realize the value that Maxx Crosby brings to the team. The Pro Bowl defensive end is coming off a breakout year that saw him led the NFL with 100 quarterback pressures, per Pro Football Focus. He was heading into a contract year in 2022 and the new brass knew they had to keep him around for a long time.
The Raiders announced on Friday that they’ve signed Crosby to a contract extension.
According to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero, Crosby will be receiving a four-year contract worth $98.98 million and $53 million guaranteed. The $24.75 million he’s making annually makes him the fourth highest-paid defensive player in the NFL.
Crosby came into the NFL as a fourth-round pick in 2019 and had to work hard to get where he is now. He quickly became one of the most popular players in the Raiders’ fan base due to his tenacious playing style. He made sure to send a strong message to Raider Nation after the news broke.
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Dave Ziegler & Josh McDaniels Already Doing Things Differently
When Jon Gruden was hired as head coach for the Raiders in 2018, one of the first big moves he made was trading superstar pass rusher Khalil Mack instead of paying him. It was a move that set the team’s defense back years. Head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler clearly don’t want to repeat the same mistakes.
Signing Crosby to an extension sends a message to the team that players who step up and work hard will get taken care of. The Raiders didn’t wait to see how the defensive end played with the new coaching staff and just use the franchise tag if they couldn’t sign him. They locked him up on one of the biggest contracts in the NFL for a defensive player. This is big news for the Raiders and it guarantees they’ll have their star pass rusher for another five years at least.
Crosby Wants to Be a Hall of Famer
Now that Crosby is under contract for a long time, it’s time to focus on football. The defensive end had an excellent 2021 season but there’s still work to be done. He had a lot of pressures but only notched 8.0 sacks. His career-high came as a rookie when he notched 10.0. Crosby knows that he’s far from a finished product. He has huge goals for the rest of his career.
“I want to be a Hall of Famer,” Crosby said after signing the deal. “You don’t get to the Hall of Fame with one Pro Bowl and one All-Pro … gotta continue to strive for my goals.”
Crosby’s had a strong start to his career so he could certainly be a Hall of Fame level player. As he said, there’s a lot he has to do to ensure that happens.
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