Maxx Crosby is one of the best defensive players in the NFL and it can be hard to think back to a time when he wasn’t one of the most feared edge defenders in the league.
Crosby finished fourth in the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year vote in 2023, but he can remember a time in his rookie year when he wasn’t sure if he could play in the NFL.
In a guest appearance this week on the Pardon my Take podcast, Crosby talked about the slow start start he had in his first season, and the game that turned everything around…
“My first three games in the NFL, I was so bad. Mentally, I was at my lowest like when it comes to confidence. I had coach [Brentson] Buckner, who was just hard as hell on me. I thought I was the worst player in the world. He would come into the meetings and just crush me and Cle, the other rookie, Clelin Ferrell from Clemson, he’s just getting crushed.
And I’m like ‘I don’t know if I can play in the league.’ I’ve never felt lack of confidence on a football field before…
So we go into Indy that week. It was the fourth game of the year my rookie season and Benson Mayowa was the starting edge. He goes down right before the game and [Buckner] comes in there literally 30 minutes before kickoff and says ‘Maxx, you’re in there on third downs. You’re going.’ And that was it. I went into the game and played like 50 snaps, had my breakout game, and I’ve started ever since.'”
twitter: @raidersbeat
Maxx I love watching you play. I enjoyed the last part of the season when raiders started playing like the raiders. A.P take us to the playoffs let’s go RAIDERS.
It is the time for the raiders to take it to the limit let’s play raider ball.