The Raiders built Maxx Crosby a real defense: Now it has to show

The Las Vegas Raiders finally built perennial Pro Bowler Maxx Crosby a real defense—and now there are zero excuses left for Las Vegas.

For years, the Las Vegas Raiders ran one of the most predictable defensive game plans in the NFL. Every opposing offensive coordinator circled one name on the whiteboard: Maxx Crosby. Stop him, and you stop the Raiders’ defense. It was that simple, and it worked.

Double teams. Triple teams. Chip blocks. Tight ends left in protection. Whatever it took to neutralize the best defensive player in football, teams did it, and the Raiders stood there watching, unable to capitalize on all that extra space Crosby was creating everywhere else on the field.

That ends now. Or at least it better had.

John Spytek set out to finally fix the defense…

General manager John Spytek came into this offseason with a clear-eyed diagnosis: the Raiders had been running a one-man defense for too long. His prescription was aggressive. Free agency brought in impact linebackers drawn to new defensive coordinator Rob Leonard’s system, along with legitimate pass-rush options to flank Crosby on the defensive line.

Then the 2026 NFL Draft arrived, and Las Vegas went heavy on defense, adding at safety, cornerback, defensive end and defensive tackle. The Silver and Black did not just patch holes. They tried to rebuild the entire unit around their franchise cornerstone.

It was overdue.