You know Maxx Crosby is good. Very good. He's been good since basically the moment he entered the league, which he's proven with All-Pro status and Pro Bowl accolades. Doing that while on the Las Vegas Raiders should make it even more impressive, given how things have gone over the course of his career, too.
He's not just a good pass-rusher; Crosby's the type of cornerstone player that teams can build around. He sets the tone both on and off the field, and there's probably some hypothetical argument out there to be made out there that he brings as much value to the Raiders as most quarterbacks bring to their team.
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Raiders fans have known this for a long time, but there's been a lack of respect around the league when talking about Crosby in the broader football conversation. Thanks to our good friends at Bleacher Report, the respect is finally starting to grow. In their True Franchise Players To Build Around listicle, they're pretty high on Crosby and it's hard to argue against why.
Maxx Crosby is finally getting some credit for being a true franchise building block
Here's what B/R wrote:
"He has taken over for the likes of Myles Garrett and T.J. Watt as an elder statesman among true franchise players. When healthy two years ago, Crosby amassed 14.5 sacks, 50 quarterback pressures, 90 total tackles and a league-high 23 tackles for loss (tied with Danielle Hunter). There aren't many people on the planet who can disrupt plays in the backfield like Crosby when he's at his best. While Crosby alone hasn't made Las Vegas a contender, he did receive a contract extension this offseason that briefly made him the NFL's highest-paid defender."
That was after it was pointed out how much bad injury luck Crosby has dealt with during his career so far. That's two forces working against him that he's managed to overcome to put up numbers that match Defensive Player of the Year winners.
Also, this would seem to be super besides the point, but actually helps make it even further, but it's kind of wild that Crosby's still only 28. He's already in the Top 150 among all-time sack leaders and is grouped with guys either much older than him or who have long since retired -- and he's still going! You learn something new every day, and it's yet another reason why he's an underrated franchise cornerstone. Usually, lists like this are just quarterbacks and Saquon Barkley, so shoutout to B/R for validating what every Raiders fan already knows about Maxx Crosby.
If Crosby's as healthy as we all presume he is this year, I bet this isn't the last time we see him on a list like this.