'At This Level, I’ve Never Experienced It': Maxx Crosby Gushes Over New Raiders Head Coach Pete Carroll

Maxx Crosby has been with the Las Vegas Raiders for six years now. That’s not an insanely long stretch, but given how chaotic things have been around the team, he’s already the second-longest tenured player, behind only tackle Kolton Miller. Since Crosby came on board in 2019, the Raiders have had just one winning/playoff season (a Wild Card loss), and their 43 wins over that span rank 22nd in the NFL.

This wouldn’t be as frustrating for Crosby if he hadn’t been so dominant. So many prime years… wasted. His 59.5 sacks since entering the league in 2021 rank fifth during that time, and his 105 tackles for loss are the most in the league. But he has only been a rare bright spot on an otherwise frustrating team.

But now, with a completely new regime in town, headed by minority owner Tom Brady and head coach Pete Carroll, Crosby felt confident enough in the franchise’s future to sign a three-year, $106.5 million extension. Carroll will be Crosby’s fifth head coach as he enters his seventh year, and ahead of the 2025 campaign, he says he’s never seen a team run the way Carroll does it.

“It’s something that, at this level, I’ve never experienced it. Having a guy who’s a proven winner, at whatever level he’s been at. From college at USC, to the pros in Seattle for all those years. Just being around it, it makes sense why he’s had so much success in his career. You know, people joke about the age and stuff like that, and I give him some flak sometimes. (Laughs) You have to.”

Crosby talked about how Carroll’s easygoing demeanor has made the two-time All-Pro enjoy going to work again, after years of high-stress environments with coaches like Josh McDaniels, Jon Gruden, and Antonio Pierce, who were constantly on the hot seat or dealing with scandals.

“It’s been so much fun, he makes the environment, makes showing up to work enjoyable every day, and that’s something you can’t take for granted. Because it’s been rough in the past some years, that’s just reality. It’s been a whole shift of energy,” Crosby said.

“And it’s not just the players, and not what being said, it’s the action behind it, and he’s all about coaching the coaches and getting everybody else on board. He’s holding everybody accountable.”

Carroll’s cool-guy, players-coach demeanor doesn’t take away from the most important thing: winning. Crosby has not done a lot of that in the NFL, so no doubt he’s excited to be playing for a guy who has not only had success and won major titles before, but still has that hunger for competition, even at age 73.

“But that’s the type of person he is. He loves a challenge, he loves to compete in everything he does, and he loves to win. It’s not just about competing, it’s about winning at the end of the day, and he’s all about that.”

Just half an offseason into his tenure with the Raiders, Pete Carroll has clearly already given this team his classic identity: good defense, and a strong running game. They selected RB Ashton Jeanty No. 6 overall.

The club went big on defense in both free agency and the later rounds of the draft. Not to mention locking up their best player, Crosby, to an extension. And that was important, because it shows everyone that the team’s top dog believes in this project and its coaches.