Maxx Crosby camp hype won't mean anything if Raiders don't change approach

Las Vegas Raiders fans may not have been expecting Maxx Crosby to be full-go right away at training camp. But by all accounts, the superstar defensive end is back and arguably better than ever. He shined on the first day of practice, with coaches, reporters and teammates marveling at his prowess.

And this isn't atypical for Crosby. His yearly routine has more or less become about dominating in the preseason, then playing very well during the regular season, spending a good bit of the offseason recovering from the various injuries he sustained during said season, and then doing it all over again.

But that can't keep happening, and the Raiders have ignored an obvious way to mitigate the nefarious part of that cycle for too long: Playing Crosby fewer snaps to extend his shelf life. He is a complete outlier at his position when it comes to how seldom he leaves the field.

So, while the hype about him returning from injury strongly yet again is ostensibly good, it all means nothing if they don't make this change. Because without a healthy Crosby, or one who can still play at a high level in the next few years, Las Vegas won't reach the pinnacle that it wants to in this rebuild.

Raiders must limit Maxx Crosby's snap count for training camp hype to mean something

The argument for playing Crosby nearly every snap is simple: He's one of the best defensive players in the league, thriving equally as a run defender and pass rusher, so the more snaps that he's on the field, the better it is for the Silver and Black. And that holds up, but only to a certain extent.

Crosby has endured eight surgeries in seven seasons. And after not missing a game during his first five campaigns, he has missed seven in the last two years. He is fresh off his worst injury yet, as he suffered a torn meniscus in Week 3 of 2025, played on it for months and missed the entire offseason.

Perhaps this is dumb luck, or lack thereof, and injuries are just a part of life in the NFL. The injury bug bites and infects people at different times and severities. Or maybe this trend of Crosby starting to miss time due to injury is directly related to his workload, which is unprecedented and unnecessary.

Teams continue to key on Crosby more and more as the years pass and the Raiders fail to pair him up with suitable running mates. But Las Vegas spent $48 million on Kwity Paye, $11 million on Malcolm Koonce and a third-round pick on Keyron Crawford this offseason. They have legitimate bodies.

So, there is no need to play Crosby so many snaps when rotating several solid players appears to be a possibility for new defensive coordinator Rob Leonard. And although it is far from the only factor in the Raiders being a winning team, there is clearly no correlation between his snap share and winning.

If anything, it seems like Las Vegas is actually better, at least in the win-loss column, when Crosby plays fewer snaps, and the team can rely on other players to keep opposing offenses on their toes. This also keeps Crosby fresher, so he can potentially make a bigger impact with his allotted snaps.

When Crosby plays fewer than 83% of the snaps across the season in games that he is healthy, the team has won 51% of its contests. When playing 94% or more of the available snaps, the Raiders' win percentage drops all the way to 30.9. That is a significant difference.

Maxx Crosby's snap share compared to other great NFL defensive ends

One could easily argue that Crosby's sack numbers would take a hit if he played fewer snaps. And historically speaking, his output has been higher when he played a higher snap share; that feels obvious to say, just based on opportunity alone.

But other NFL edge rushers are getting more done in fewer snaps, and their teams aren't exactly suffering. Look at the 2025 sack leaders and their snap shares.

Hutchinson is the only one even approaching Crosby in terms of snap share. But even that three percent difference means that Hutchinson only played 70 more snaps than him, despite playing two more games. Garrett played two more games and 67 fewer snaps. Hunter 184 fewer. Bonitto 251.

Over the past six seasons, Crosby has been playing around 1,000 snaps per year. If his body only has 4,000 snaps left, wouldn't the Raiders be wiser to spread that out over, say, six seasons at a rate of 667 snaps per year than burning 1,000 snaps out of him for the next four?

No player can perform at 100% and stay healthy while playing such an ungodly number of snaps year in and year out. And the last thing that Crosby wants is to see his level of play drop. The Raiders also don't want their $30 million per year-ish defensive end floundering or remaining unavailable at times.

The Houston Texans win with Hunter playing 70% of the snaps. The Denver Broncos do with Nik Bonitto playing only 61%. The mark of a great edge rusher isn't necessarily how many snaps they play, but how much of an impact they have in those snaps. Impact helps teams win, not snaps.

And don't get me wrong, Crosby is an incredibly impactful player. He is one of the league's best, and fans respect his undying desire to play every play. But if he and the Raiders don't find some common ground on limiting his snap share, it will continue to catch up with him and ultimately limit him.

So, Crosby being back in the fold and performing well at training camp is good, and it is a welcome development; nobody wants to hear that he's struggling. But what fans want to hear more than anything is that their team is finally winning, and this roster isn't built to do that without Crosby.

Crosby needs to be on the field and healthy, but more than anything, he needs his snap count lowered so that he can be out there for longer and still be in his prime when this team turns things around. Otherwise, all of this would ultimately mean nothing because winning is everything.

Just ask Crosby.

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