Crosby's back, but what's the rush?

HENDERSON, Nev. — When the 2025 season ended, few were sure that Maxx Crosby would still be a Las Vegas Raider. Even fewer believed he would be available for the start of training camp after undergoing yet another knee surgery.

But Wednesday, there was Crosby in his familiar silver and black No. 98, on the field for the first day of Raiders training camp at the Intermountain Health Performance Center. He was not a Baltimore Raven, a Philadelphia Eagle, a Detroit Lion or a Dallas Cowboy. He was a Raider, which is where his heart and soul resides.

He has yet another head coach in Klint Kubiak to work with. It’s his fifth different HC, after Jon Gruden, Josh McDaniels, Antonio Pierce, Pete Carroll and now, Kubiak. But the 29-year-old All-Pro edge rusher takes it all in stride. For Crosby, all that matters is winning and being a contributor to the organization’s success.

“Yeah, it's extremely exciting,” Crosby said of being back on the field. “It's been a long offseason, but it's a blessing in disguise. There's a lot of things that I learned and grew from, and that's the beautiful thing about life. You have an opportunity every day to either feel bad for yourself and make excuses and be a victim, or you can stand up and rise and build and grow from those types of experiences. So, I feel like that's what has built who I am and I try to inspire the people around me.

“It's not about how hard it is and not how you could look at all the negativity and stuff that comes from it, or you just look at the positives and the things you can grow from, and that's really where I just keep my mind at. It was just awesome to be out there. I had so much fun.”

He’s not going to worry about the constant rumors that have the Raiders trading him. Yes, he’s aware of them but he has no control over what is being said or written about him so he basically filters them out. If general manager John Spytek opts to move him, that’s the business of football.

As such, Crosby has appeared to have recovered from the Jan. 7 surgery to repair the torn meniscus in his left knee. He was working with the first defensive unit, was moving well and was leading the warmup and stretching at the start of practice as the temperature hovered near the century mark around 7:30 a.m.

“It's a blessing. It's an absolute blessing,” he said. “I feel great. The physical part is the physical part. You're going to have to go through the grueling rehab.

“First two months of offseason, I literally can't bend my knee, and I'm in a cast. You can hardly sleep. I literally couldn't sleep for about a month and a half or so. You can't move your leg. You can't walk on it. Can't put any pressure on it. I'm so used to being so like self-efficient and self-reliant on stuff, and I got to ask everyone around me. I feel like an irritant. Like that part of it, nobody really gets to see.

“(Wife) Rachel is doing double, triple time, taking care of the baby, and she's also taking care of me. I'm like a big ass baby. I'm stuck on a damn couch. I can't do anything. Those are the things that people don't really get to see, and the emotional, the mental part of it, and it forces you to make a choice of how you're going to attack the whole process.

“So, it's been over seven months now and we're out here. The goal was the goal and we're out here flying. I feel incredible. It's not just me. It's obvious that I'm the one that's got to do all the work, but ultimately there's so many good people in my corner that helped me along the process this offseason, and I could go on and on about those guys. But I didn't do it alone, and obviously (Rachel) being the mother of the year, wife of the year taking care of me and helping me during the whole thing was incredible. So, it's a blessing man. I love this game, and I heard all the noise and all those things, but everyone knows if my back's against the wall that's when I'm at my best. I love the pressure. That's what I live and thrive on. It just added points and gives me a little bit more reason to go out there and whoop ass.”

Of course, the goal is to have him fit and ready for Week 1 against Miami at Allegiant Stadium on Sept. 13. So the challenge for Kubiak, defensive coordinator Rob Leonard and Crosby himself is to make sure not to rush him back, not overextend himself and see to it that his timing and strength is where he wants and needs it to be for the opener.

It’s a delicate balance and Crosby knows from prior experience that it’s on him to listen to his body, understand he’s still in the recovery process and not do something reckless that results in a setback.

The Raiders have added pieces on both sides of the ball and while it is important for Crosby to have some help with his defensive comrades, it’s also important that the Raiders’ offense play with efficiency, limit turnovers, keep possession of the ball to give Crosby ample recovery time and also put enough points on the board so the defense doesn’t carry an added burden.

New quarterback Kirk Cousins couldn’t help but notice Crosby’s presence on the field.

"Oh yeah, he loves football,” Cousins said. “He loves to work, loves being here at the facility, and that's what you want from your best players. And he's going to make our football team better and it was great to see him out there today.

"Yeah, Maxx he comes here early, likes to get here early. I didn't know that. So, to see kind of his work habits and how hard he works, it's not by accident that he's an All-Pro level player. He is another guy in the locker room. I just feel like he relates well to everybody. He’s not aloof, he's hardworking, he wants to be here, wants to be engaged, brings positive attitude every day. So, you just start to see name after name and when it's some of your better players like a Maxx or a Tyler (Linderbaum), you say, 'Hey, we can we can work with this, this is good'. So, feel great about Maxx, and I'm just a little bit nervous that he's he got to respect the red jersey these next few weeks, so I'll try to make sure that happens."

Remember, it will have its hands full dealing with its foes in the AFC West, which means Patrick Mahomes with the Chiefs, Justin Herbert with the Chargers and Bo Nix with the Broncos. So having Crosby available and in peak condition is vital if Las Vegas intends to move on from the disaster that was its 3-14 season of a year ago.

“I feel like ultimately every day you have 24 hours to make a decision,” Crosby said of his mindset not changing. “You could push things down the line, or all right, tomorrow I'll put in put in that a little bit of extra work, or maybe next week I'll do the extra running. Like no, you got to do it every single day and have that mindset where you're going to have growth on a consistent basis. And I feel like you can accomplish anything in the world.

“So, my mindset coming into this, like I said, obviously everyone's talking about he's got a chip on his shoulder. I've always got a chip on my shoulder no matter what. So yeah, of course, the whole situation, talked about it a million times. I'm done talking about it, but yeah, of course, it was added motivation. But it's beautiful at the same time. I love being doubted. I love being told I can't do something because I know I'm going to go to the end of the world and make it happen."

So as Raider Nation celebrates the return of its favorite son, let us not lose sight of the fact that this is one step, albeit an important one, of having No. 98 back full time at 100 percent doing what he does best, which is terrorizing opposing quarterbacks.