Despite the recent losses, the Raiders have a bright future

Madd Maxx

Before I give you his name, I want to give you the stats of this player and would like you to guess who he is first. Ready?

He leads the team in hurries at 27 along with eight sacks. He’s batted three balls down while also forcing three fumbles with 23 tackles coming at a loss and six assists with four quarterback hits. So who is this player?

Clelin Ferrell? The first-round pick for the Raiders? How about Benson Mayowa? Maurice Hurst? Arden Key? All wrong.

Maxx Crosby, the fourth-round pick of the 2019 draft. Taken at 105th overall, the defensive end from Eastern Michigan has been playing lights out this entire season, even outplaying Ferrell. His best game of the season came against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 11 where he logged four sacks, four tackles for loss, along with four quarterback hurries.

Looking like Michael Strahan in his prime, he couldn’t be stopped. He showed flashes of why he should have been drafted higher, at least in the second round. He has outplayed fellow 2019 draft pick Ferrell who was taken 4th overall. That’s not even the best part.

The best part is he’s only 21 years old and he’ll continue to get better as he plays more. On a side note, he became one of my favorite players when during a preseason game he played through a broken bone. You can’t get much better than that.