The Las Vegas Raiders are struggling once again during the 2025 NFL season. At 2-12, it is hard to find bright spots, but Raider Nation is doing its best to maintain at least a cautiously optimistic view of the team's future plans.
Brock Bowers and Ashton Jeanty are two talented young players to build around, and both Kolton Miller and Maxx Crosby are veterans at the top of their game. While the former has spent most of the season sidelined, the latter has embarked on another tremendous campaign.
Crosby signed a three-year, $106.5 million extension this offseason, and he has been worth every penny for the Raiders' defense. Despite his name constantly swirling in trade rumors, Crosby has remained steadfast in his desire to wear the Silver and Black for his entire NFL career.
Maxx Crosby continues to shine despite the Raiders' ugly defensive performance
In Week 15's game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Crosby finished the day with four total tackles, one tackle for loss, one quarterback hit, and a sack. His 71.4 Pro Football Focus grade was the best on Las Vegas' defense.
With that production on Sunday, despite the 31-0 loss, Crosby rewrote the record books a bit. The Raiders' media relations account shared several stats as he moved up the all-time ranks.
First, Crosby's sack against the Eagles gave him 10.0 on the season, which means that he has now recorded 10.0 or more sacks for the fourth time in his career. That is tied with Haason Reddick and Trey Hendrickson for the fifth-most such seasons since 2019.
Crosby has also recorded an unbelievable 26 tackles for loss this season. That is not only a career high, but he just passed legendary Los Angeles Rams defender Aaron Donald for the sixth-most tackles for loss in a single season by a defensive lineman since 2000.
His 131 tackles for loss since entering the NFL in 2019 are the most in the league over that span, and he also passed Ndamukong Suh for the ninth-most tackles for loss by a defensive lineman since the 2000 season.
RELATED: Ashton Jeanty receives label Raiders fans were hoping wouldn't come for him
The Raiders added that Greg Townsend, who reached double-digit sacks seven times between 1983 and 1991, is the only player with more 10.0-sack seasons than Crosby in the Silver and Black since sacks became an official stat in 1982.
Townsend and Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long are the only two Raiders currently ahead of Crosby on the franchise's all-time sack leaderboard.
While the Raiders have struggled to surround Crosby with talent, he has shown why he is one of the best defensive linemen of his era. Unlike Townsend and Long, both of whom won a Super Bowl with the Los Angeles Raiders in 1983, Crosby has played in just one postseason game in his career.
While he had a great game in 2021's Super Wild Card round against the Cincinnati Bengals, finishing with six total tackles, two tackles for loss, 1.0 sacks, and two quarterback hits, the fourth-round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft surely wants the right to get back to the playoffs.
Las Vegas must return to the loyalty that Crosby has shown by building an adequate defense around him. The team will have over $100 million in cap space this offseason, along with potentially landing the top overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft.
There is no excuse why they shouldn't be able to improve the roster, so that Crosby isn't, once again, out there without any defensive help. But the heartbeat of the team and Raider Nation has been a light in another dark season.