Oakland Raiders: Rookie report card at the midway point of the season
By Nico Di Fede
4th Round, 106th Overall — Maxx Crosby, DE
Through eight games Maxx Crosby has already become a fan favorite and has definitely outplayed his fourth-round draft status. His two sacks will of course not “wow” you, but it is apparent watching him that he makes an impact on the game.
Crosby had an amazing combine and was one of the most athletic players in the entire 2019 NFL draft, earning a SPARQ score of 135.8 which ranked fifth among edge rushers.
Outside of playing for Eastern Michigan and facing rather weak competition, the main knock on Crosby was his lack of strength. It’s obvious that Crosby has a big frame that needs to be filled out, but so far, it hasn’t seemed like much of a problem.
Crosby has so far heavily outplayed first-round pick Clelin Ferrell.
Against the Lions, Maxx Crosby had eight quarterback pressures. That is more than Ferrell had accumulated over the whole season up to that point, with only one.
He has also been no slouch in the run game as he was given a grade of 83.0 against the run in Detroit and has made several nice plays in the run game like this throughout the season.
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We talked about the awareness of Ferrell which has resulted in batted down passes at the line and you see the same thing with Crosby as he also has two on the season.
While it would be nice to see more in the sack department, Crosby does have two forced fumbles — both plays where he showed the awareness just mentioned and used his freakish length to punch the ball out.
And of course, forcing a turnover is better than a sack.
Kidding aside, Crosby came into the league thought of as a raw project player, but has turned out to already be an at least above-average NFL starter, with a lot more to grow.
Grade: A-