Oakland Raiders: Rookie stock report following Week 7 loss to Green Bay Packers

Stock Up: Maxx Crosby, A.J. Cole

Maxx Crosby recorded a sack for the second week in a row. The sack was due to the one thing everyone says when discussing Crosby, and that is “effort.”

The rookie pass rusher was doubled on the play and could not slip it so instead, he spun off of them to break free and tracked Aaron Rodgers down for his second career sack.

This play shows the main reason why Crosby has outplayed number four overall pick Clelin Ferrell. Ferrell has not yet learned to counter and will often hand fight with blockers when he cannot disengage.

Crosby could not use leverage to slip the double so he instead countered with a spin move that ended up being successful.

Crosby was considered “raw” by many scouting reports, but I think that is just a blanket statement people put on almost any uber-athletic player coming out of the draft, regardless of whether or not they do have some refined skills as Crosby has shown he does.

Crosby played more snaps than Ferrell for the first time in his career (minus last week where Ferrell did not play of course), logging in 42 which made up 70% of the defensive snaps. Crosby has become a fan favorite so far and only seems to be getting better.

Undrafted free agent punter A.J. Cole had another solid day while only punting twice in this one. Both of those two punts were downed within the 20 with one being fair caught at the 10 and the other being downed on the 13.

Punter may not be a sexy position, but when they do their jobs as Cole has, they deserve credit for the good field position they give to the defense. It’s just too bad that more often than not this defense cannot take advantage of it.