Defensive MVP: DE Maxx Crosby
This award was a bit tougher to decide upon, but for the complete opposite reason as the previous one. The Raiders defense has been underwhelming through the first eight games with limited positives to glean from their performances. One pleasant surprise however has been the play of rookie Maxx Crosby.
Drafted in the fourth round out of Eastern Michigan, Crosby has been arguably the Raiders best defensive player through the first eight weeks of the season. At the very least, he has flashed the most and has overshadowed fourth overall selection Clelin Ferrell. Through his good play, Crosby has seen his snap counts increase on a weekly basis and is now featuring heavily for the Raiders defense, out snapping all other defensive ends.
In only eight games Crosby has two sacks, four quarterback hits, four tackles for loss, and 20 total tackles. To say he has been active would be an understatement, Crosby has been the Raiders most consistent pass rusher.
As it stands Crosby was a mid round steal and leads a very strong rookie class for the Raiders alongside Josh Jacobs. Hopefully the Raiders can give him some more help this offseason, but so far through 2019 Crosby has been lights out for the Silver and Black and will only get better as time moves on.