Howie Long drops bold statement on Raiders DE Maxx Crosby

Some of the greatest defensive players in NFL history have worn Silver and Black and defensive end Maxx Crosby is on track to be the next great Raiders defender. He's already a great player but likely needs a couple of more seasons to really start getting considered among the all-time greats.

Perhaps the greatest Raiders defensive end ever is Howie Long. The Hall of Famer was recently on Crosby's podcast "The Rush" and he had some high praise for the young star.

“I don’t know that there’s anybody that puts it together quite the way you do,” Long told Crosby. “I really, really mean that.”

Long also sees a lot of himself in Crosby.

“The thing about it is, people like you – and there are a lot of players in the league like this – I’m not sure they all think the same way, but I always felt like I never was happy,” he said. “Sunday night, if we were in a, let’s say, Near-I left, or it’s Far-I right and Y-off, Y-motion, bring the tight end, I was a split-second late on my first step, and gave a little bit of ground and ended up recovering outside, but I gave a little bit of ground. You can’t get past that on a Sunday night in your head.

“The Monday morning meetings, I think Earl [Leggett] said maybe five positive things to me in six years, seven years in the meetings. I was Earl’s guy, and there were times when it really ended up happening this way; fights would near break out in the meeting room, in the coaches' meeting room at night because of something I did at practice.”

Crosby might be the best defensive end the Raiders have had since Long. Khalil Mack was incredible but he was only with the team for four seasons. Crosby already has the fifth-most sacks in franchise history with 52.0. He's got a long way to catch Greg Townsend (107.5) and Long (84.0), but he's certainly on the right trajectory.