With the NFL going to a 17-game schedule, it’s not really correct to say we are a quarter of the way through the season. But there are still a lot of things we can take away from the first four games of the year.
One of the biggest takeaways for the Raiders is that their defense is surprisingly competent. They did get gashed a little by the Chargers in Week 5, but the offense didn’t give them much help. Otherwise, it’s been a very impressive unit.
The star of the defense has been Maxx Crosby, who is now in his third season in the NFL. Just how good has he been so far? Well, according to Pro Football Focus, he is the highest-graded defensive end in the league. In fact, he made their All-Pro team after four weeks:
“Crosby has been one of the biggest surprises of the season and an absolutely dominant pass-rushing force for the Raiders off the edge. He leads the NFL in total pressures with 30, five more than any other player and the fourth-most after four weeks since 2010.
The only issue is that Crosby has yet to face a viable right tackle, so we don’t quite know how much of this stellar performance is development and how much is simply a product of a cupcake run of right tackles. Crosby’s 91.6 PFF pass-rushing grade is almost 25 grading points better than his previous career-high, and he is already 62% of the way toward eclipsing his pressure total from 2020.”
With Yannick Ngakoue way on the other side, the Raiders finally have a pass rush. Even players like Solomon Thomas and Carl Nassib are helping make an impact this season.
However, Crosby is the alpha of this group. If he can continue to play at this level for the rest of the season, he will surely make the first Pro Bowl of his career. And more than likely, he will get some actual All-Pro consideration. It’s been quite the start for the former fourth-round pick from Eastern Michigan.
