Maxx Crosby has dealt with a dramatic few months that included a trade that was rescinded after several days and a lengthy recovery from knee surgery.
The Las Vegas Raiders star edge defender remains undeterred.
“It’s been a different road for sure going through knee surgery,” he told reporters at his annual Sack Summit event last week. “But ultimately I think it’s been my best offseason so far in general and I’m excited to get back out there.”
Crosby is just two weeks away from the July 28 report date for the start of training camp at the Raiders’ team facility.
This is the time of year players around the league are typically on vacation and trying to recharge before ramping up for the rigors of a long season.
But Crosby, along with co-hosts Von Miller and Cam Jordan, bring together some of the best pass rushers in the league for a weekend of collaborative work on making the position better.
They share tips, philosophies and drills with players representing nearly every team in the league.
It has become a prestigious event, and this year’s Sack Summit at Faith Lutheran High School had the added intrigue of getting to see just how much work Crosby could do on his surgically repaired left knee.
While he mostly managed reps, he did engage in competitive short-burst drills where he was able to explode out of his stance and beat some of the top athletes in the league.
It was a very encouraging sign for his potential readiness to start the season.
“How do I look?” he joked when asked about how his knee was feeling. “I feel amazing. It’s been incredible for sure.”
Crosby’s offseason started with rumors of his unhappiness with the organization, which eventually led to him being traded to Baltimore for two first-round picks. The Ravens backed out of the deal several days later, though, citing concerns over the imaging on his knee and his long-term prognosis.
He has said the lesson he learned from the experience was how much he still loves the Raiders franchise and its fans and appears happy to be with the organization moving forward, though trade rumors have persisted from the outside.
Crosby, however, says he remains focused on himself.
He believes the offseason is the time to build a foundation, one that essentially must get torn down each year and rebuilt.
“For me, there’s a lot of things. Run game, pass game, overall strength, explosion. Film work. Seeing more,” he said of where he is making strides. “It’s just about breaking down those minute details every single day and if you do that, you can get your 1 percent better. You take it one day at a time. You don’t want to get too far ahead. You don’t want to be worried about camp right now because we’ve still got a couple weeks so you have to be present and focused on the exact details to get better today.”
He thinks that’s why it’s a perfect time for an event like the Sack Summit that provides an opportunity to put in work while others might be on a beach.
“An event like this allows us to take our minds to a different level, see the game through other people’s lenses and ultimately just get better,” he said. “That’s the goal.”
He wasn’t alone from the organization. Teammates Jonah Laulu, Keyron Crawford, Cian Slone, Thomas Booker IV, Malcolm Koonce and Treven Ma’ae were among the players spotted on the field.
Crosby knows the unit can make an impact, especially with former defensive line coach Rob Leonard taking over as coordinator for the first time.
“They did a great job,” Crosby said of the front office’s moves this offseason “I’ve been with Robby for a long time. He’s a film junkie and loves the game. He’s about all the right things and when you have someone like that leading the way on the defensive side, the opportunities are limitless. We have a lot of work to do. A lot of new guys, a lot of new faces. New defense, the whole nine (yards). But it’s a one-day-at-a-time philosophy. We expect to be great, but we have to put the work in and we have to put in the time and effort. It’s only July. We have a ton of work to do before we get to real football.”
His Sack Summit event, however, is closer to maturity.
“We are super proud,” Miller said. “This is our baby for all of us and to see it grow and become what it is, where it’s really to a state where it’s self-sustainable to where as we move on, the younger guys will be able to take it over and keep it going. We’re super proud of that.”
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
