Star Maxx Crosby impressed by Rob Leonard’s approach
If any position group on the 2024 Las Vegas Raiders is in the spotlight, it is the defensive line.
This is the team’s best group up front in years and it truly has a chance to be one of the elite units in the NFL this season.
Indeed, the Raiders’ defensive line is stacked. It is led by defensive end Maxx Crosby and newly signed defensive tackle Christian Wilkins. The high-paid tandem has a chance to be special.
Crosby is an elite players as both a pass-rusher and run stopper and Wilkins is a premier against the run and had a terrific season as a pass-rusher with Miami in 2023.
The Raiders’ defensive front runs deeper than Crosby and Wilkins, though. Malcolm Koonce had a breakout season in 2023 as he had eight of his 10 career sacks. Defensive tackles Adam Butler and John Jenkins are solid rotational players and 2023 first-round pick, defensive end Tyree Wilson is full of potential.
So, yes, this group can be fun.
Yet, don’t mistake, the group isn’t getting anything for free. Crosby has lauded how much Las Vegas defensive line coach Rob Leonard has worked this group and will continue to make sure it doesn’t simply rely on its talent.
“Robbie’s has been incredible. He challenges us every day, he doesn’t coach anybody – he coaches people different, but he doesn’t shy away from coaching. You know what I mean?,” Crosby said. “That’s what I think is most important. Nowadays there’s a lot of guys that feel like they are too big to be coached and things like that, and my it’s my way or no way. Rob is a guy that can relate to us, he played division one football, he’s been around a lot of great players, and people have his respect in our room. So, it’s a collaborative group, he walks in there, and we have, I mean, we have the biggest D-line group I think we’ve ever had. We have like 18 guys with some ridiculous, got like four coaches now in there. It feels like everybody wants to be in the D-line room at all times. So, it’s a special group, and it starts with him. And I think he’s done an incredible job, and he just pushes us in every single way. He knows what everybody wants, and you got to have real relationships with the players to be able to talk to him a certain way and I think that’s what he does a great job of doing. Yeah, for instance, when he first got hired, he took the time to get in a zoom call. It was me, him and Rob Marinelli, and like, usually a coach, coaches don’t do stuff like that. It’s like no, this is my way, he got in the meeting with him, and we chopped it up for an hour and we talked football. And I thought that was super cool just because it shows like, even as a coach, he’s still constantly learning and that’s why me and Robbie have a real relationship. It’s not like just coach type stuff, it’s real life and that’s what I feel like, why guys respect him so much. I think Marinelli was the same exact way. It was much more than just a coach, you have a real relationship with guys like that.”
So, from the coach to the talent on the field, the Raiders’ defensive line is headed into the season a motivated group.