The Raiders are rewarding their top defender. Having Maxx Crosby under contract through the 2026 season, the Raiders will still take a step to increase the Pro Bowl edge rusher’s near-future earnings.
An additional $6MM on Crosby’s deal will be moved into 2024, according to ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter. Crosby was set to make $19MM in base salary — an amount that is fully guaranteed — this season. The team also moved $1.2MM in Crosby money for the 2025 season. None of Crosby’s 2025 salary ($21MM) was to be guaranteed.
No new years will be added to the deal, per Schefter, though the Raiders are attempting to express interest in keeping Crosby beyond his current contract. The team rebuffed trade interest in Crosby before the 2023 deadline. Some of Crosby’s 2026 money is likely being shifted, and it would stand to reason the Raiders will be interested in extending their standout edge defender before that 2026 season begins.
When Crosby signed his four-year, $94MM extension, he was coming off seven- and eight-sack seasons. Although Crosby broke through with 30 QB hits to help the Raiders to the playoffs in 2021, the Eastern Michigan alum has since topped his career-high in sacks twice while on his second contract. Crosby totaled 12.5 sacks in 2022 and 14.5 last season. In both years, the Jon Gruden-era draftee led the NFL in tackles for loss — 22 in 2022, 23 in 2023.
This marks an interesting decision due to the personnel running the Raiders presently. Although Gruden and former GM Mike Mayock drafted Crosby, the consistent pressure producer signed his extension early during the Josh McDaniels–Dave Ziegler pairing’s tenure. GM Tom Telesco will authorize this adjustment, signaling he and HC Antonio Pierce are interested — naturally, as Crosby has proven one of the best draft picks in recent NFL history — in keeping the sixth-year veteran around beyond this $23.5MM-per-year deal.
The Gruden-Mayock period produced a handful of poor draft decisions, but Crosby was unquestionably the best move to come out of that stretch. Crosby also memorably provided key support for Pierce’s bid to become the Raiders’ full-time HC. A mid-January report pegged Crosby as ready to explore a trade request if the Raiders did not remove Pierce’s interim tag. Mark Davis, who regretted not making this move for Rich Bisaccia in 2022, soon named Pierce the full-time HC; Pierce is the first NFL interim leader since Doug Marrone in 2017 to move into a full-time HC role.
The Raiders used free agency (Chandler Jones) and the first round (Tyree Wilson) to equip Crosby with a better supporting cast post-Yannick Ngakoue. After trading Ngakoue, Las Vegas saw the Jones signing backfire in spectacular fashion. Wilson did not make many contributions as a rookie, though 2021 third-rounder Malcolm Koonce did emerge as an intriguing option opposite Crosby. For the most part, however, the Raiders’ defense has relied on Crosby to generate pressure since the Ngakoue trade. They paid up for Christian Wilkins, signing off on a $28MM-per-year deal (with $57.5MM fully guaranteed) in March. Wilkins’ guarantee at signing more than doubled Crosby’s ($26.5MM).
Teams do not regularly authorize extensions for players who have three contract years remaining, so this represents a half-measure of sorts. Since Crosby’s deal came to pass in March 2022, a host of edge rusher extensions have dropped the Raiders’ top gun to ninth at the position. Crosby, whose 97 QB hits since 2021 trail only Nick Bosa‘s count (115), will see some more money after performing well in the first two years of his extension.
Mark Davis has assured fans that the Raiders will be the best defensive unit in the NFL once Stills, Nash & Young join Crosby.
1-Anything that makes Maxx happy makes me happy. He’s about as good as they come.
2-I know everyone thinks Koonce’s success is based on Crosby’s relentless pressure, And that obviously helped, but he was an absolute beast in the final 9 games, and beat up Salter pretty badly, and that’s not easy to do.
I’d like to see him extended before he gets a 12-sack season.