Getty Dallas Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons.
The Las Vegas Raiders haven’t had many bright spots on defense over the last few years but there’s one player who consistently gives the team everything he has. Maxx Crosby came into the NFL as a fourth-round pick and nobody expected much from him. He ended up being the team’s best pass rusher as a rookie and notched 10.0 sacks.
Crosby fell off in his second season with only 7.0 sacks but blew up last year. He led the NFL in pressures and was named Second-Team All-Pro. He’s proven this season that 2021 wasn’t a fluke. There’s debate about him being considered a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. One player who is likely ahead of him in the race is Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons.
The stats between the two are comparable but the fact that the Cowboys are one of the league’s best teams while the Raiders won’t make the playoffs will work in Parsons’ favor. Regardless, the Cowboys star has a huge amount of respect for Crosby. Ahead of Dallas’ game against the Houston Texans, Parsons was repping a shirt that featured several images of the Raiders pass rusher.
With Crosby only 25 and Parsons only 23, the two are going to be two of the best pass rushers in the NFL for years to come.
Crosby Slighted in Edge Rusher Power Rankings
Crosby hasn’t been getting as many pressures as he had last season but he’s also the only Raiders player who has gotten after the quarterback at a consistent rate. Last year, he was playing with Yannick Ngakoue, who was also one of the top pass rushers in the league. That helped free him up. The Raiders have Chandler Jones but he hasn’t started to play well until recent weeks.
Despite Crosby still putting up big numbers (he’s fifth in the NFL with 11.5 sacks and first in the league with 19 tackles for loss), The Next Gen Stats Analytics Team at NFL.com ranked him as the 10th-best edge rusher:
The reigning pressure leader might have taken a step back in pass-rush efficiency this season, generating a 9.9 percent pressure rate (down from 15.7% in 2021), but he has more than made up for it by becoming an overwhelming force in the run game. Crosby leads all edge defenders with 15 run stuffs this season, and he has recorded a whopping 14 more defensive stops (55) than any other player at his position. Opposing offenses have adjusted accordingly, running away from his side on 55 percent of carries (the fifth-highest rate in the NFL with a minimum of 100 run snaps aligned at edge). This has proven to be a wise strategy — offenses have averaged a full yard less running at Crosby (3.9) than away from him this season (4.9). Despite his dip in pass-rush efficiency, Crosby’s production has not suffered. He is still tied for the 10th-most pressures (41) and ranks fourth in sacks (10.5).
There aren’t nine better edge rushers in the NFL than Crosby but The Next Gen Stats Analytics Team clearly isn’t as high on him as the rest of the league.
Raiders Likely Holding Back Crosby From DPOY Consideration
With his current trajectory, Crosby will likely win the Defensive Player of the Year award at some point in his career. However, it’s hard to imagine it’ll happen this year. He’ll have to thank the Raiders for that. If the team was 8-5 instead of 5-8, he’d have a much stronger chance. He could overcome his team being bad to win the award if he was getting more flashy stats.
Unfortunately for him, San Francisco 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa has better stats on a Super Bowl contender. It appears that the award is his to lose this year. Perhaps Crosby will find himself in the mix again next year.