2024 was a disappointing season for Las Vegas Raiders EDGE Maxx Crosby, but that was due to injury, not performance.
Despite an ankle injury that kept him out of the final five games of the 2024 season, Crosby was still named to the Pro Bowl last year.
There is no reason to doubt Crosby’s ability to be one of the best EDGE rushers in the NFL once again in 2025. But Crosby’s opponents think even better of him than Raiders fans should expect coming off an injury-riddled season.
Despite the recency bias that usually comes with ESPN top-10 lists where the popular media company polls NFL scouts, executives and coaches, Crosby actually rose in their preseason top 10 rankings for EDGE rushers ahead of the 2025 season.
Last season, he was ranked the No. 5 EDGE. This season, he is ranked No. 4.
“Crosby’s relentless energy shows up every Sunday,” ESPN insider Jeremy Fowler wrote in the article. “His 324 pressures since 2019 are more than any other player — by 40 pressures.”
“Crosby’s lack of support up front only enhances his profile. While Crosby has 59.5 sacks since 2019, no other Raiders player has registered more than 10 during that span.”
He was much more lucky than his teammate, DT Christian Wilkins, who fell out of the rankings entirely due to his injury.
Could Crosby Be Ranked Higher?
Maxx Crosby’s ranking as the No. 4 EDGE is no doubt a great compliment to him. But should he have been ranked even higher?
Crosby recently said himself that he believes he’s the greatest pass rusher in the world.
The three edge rushers he was ranked below in the 2025 ESPN rankings are Myles Garrett, TJ Watt, and Micah Parsons.
There’s no world where Crosby is going to be ranked above Garrett. The Cleveland Browns DE has had 10 or more sacks in every season since 2018, has made the Pro Bowl in 6 of those 7 seasons, and has earned 4 All Pro honors. He’s already a surefire Hall of Famer and one of the greatest EDGE rushers of all time.
He’s done all of this on largely bad Browns teams and is still at the top of his game.
TJ Watt has a similarly incredible resume. 7 straight Pro Bowls and 4 AP All-Pros is hard to beat.
But you could argue that Crosby is better than Parsons right now.
Parsons has more sacks in the last four seasons and has been named an AP All Pro twice, an honor that has eluded Crosby because he’s been overshadowed by Garrett and Watt his entire career.
But Crosby has more total tackles, more tackles for loss, more pressures, and knocked down more passes than Parsons in the last four seasons.
Both are coming off a 2024 season plagued by injuries. Parsons EDGE-d out Crosby in the 2025 rankings. But he could easily surpass Parsons by the time the 2026 rankings come out.
Patrick Mahomes Recently Called Crosby the Best Pash Rusher in the NFL
One NFL great, and one of the Raiders biggest rivals, thinks Crosby is the best pass rusher in the NFL.
“I think he’s sacked me the most out of anyone I’ve ever played against,” Patrick Mahomes II told Kay Adams on “Up & Adams.” “To me, he’s the best pass rusher that I’ve played against. … He gives you the effort, he has the moves and he has the skill. I think it’s hard to have all three of those and do it year in and year out.”
The numbers don’t back that up, but Mahomes’s opinion is worth something. He actually has to deal with Crosby harassing him in the backfield. If he thinks Crosby is the best, who is anyone to disagree with him.
What do you think, Raiders fans? Will Maxx Crosby ever be considered the best EDGE in the NFL?
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