Maxx Crosby has proven to be a strong piece along Las Vegas' front seven over his first two years in the league. Since being selected in the fourth round of the 2019 draft out of Eastern Michigan, Crosby has led the Raiders in sacks in each of the past two seasons, including a seven-sack campaign in 2020. While this season's total is three fewer sacks than his rookie year, there's a case to be made that Crosby's sophomore season was more impressive. Why? Because it appears like the 23-year-old played through some rather significant injuries.
The defensive end revealed this week that he was able to play and start all 16 games for the Raiders this season despite tearing his labrum and broke a metal plate in his hand. Crosby has since had two successful surgeries to repair those injuries and will now take the offseason to recover, saying "I'll be back in 4 months."
16 games. 16 starts. 180+ Labrum tear & broken metal plate in my hand. Couldn’t be done without the support of my teammates & the @Raiders. Love y’all 🖤🖤🖤 I’ll be back in 4 months 😏☠️ pic.twitter.com/uty5B98eVT
— MaddMaxx (@CrosbyMaxx) January 28, 2021
"Maxx Crosby played through some injuries last year that a lot of people wouldn't," GM Mike Mayock told the official team website this week. "No excuses, but we had so much COVID, so much injuries."
Crosby has been something of an ironman for the Raiders since arriving to the franchise. He's played in all 32 games and just logged a 2020 season where he played in 898 snaps. That is the second-most among all defensive linemen, only being Texans star J.J. Watt (1,009).
