Four years after the Raiders took him with the 106th pick, Maxx Crosby had gone from lightly recruited college prospect to one of the NFL’s busiest edge defenders. The path was not tidy or prepackaged. It ran from Michigan to Texas, through Eastern Michigan with only one FBS offer, and into a pro career built on production, stamina and a style that never looks half-speed.
From Lapeer to Texas, with only one FBS offer
Maxx Robert Crosby was born on August 22, 1997, in Lapeer, Michigan. He later moved to Texas and attended Colleyville Heritage High School in Colleyville, where he developed into a college prospect without becoming a national recruiting headline. In fact, his route into Division I football was unusually narrow: Eastern Michigan was his only FBS scholarship offer.
That detail still says a lot about the way his career has unfolded. Crosby did not arrive with the profile of a can’t-miss recruit. He had to build his case in smaller rooms first.
There is family background that helps fill in the picture. His mother, Vera, has Serbian and Albanian roots, and his father, Bryan Crosby, was a college athlete. Even his first name comes with a story often repeated around him: “Maxx” is spelled with two x’s because he weighed 11 pounds, 9 ounces at birth.
Eastern Michigan gave him the runway
Crosby joined Eastern Michigan in 2015 and redshirted as a freshman. Over the next three seasons, he turned himself into one of the most disruptive defenders in the Mid-American Conference.
He earned first-team All-MAC honors in both 2017 and 2018, and in 2017 he was also named Eastern Michigan’s Defensive MVP. His college career included one disciplinary setback, he was suspended for the 2018 opener for a violation of team rules, but that was a brief interruption, not the defining line of his time there.
What defined it was steady growth. By the time he left Ypsilanti, he had become one of the program’s best modern success stories: a lightly recruited edge player who developed into an NFL draft pick.
Eastern Michigan later made that bond permanent. Crosby was inducted into the school’s Ring of Honor in 2023. After he donated $1 million to the athletic department, the field at Rynearson Stadium was renamed Crosby Field in 2024. He added another unusual chapter when Eastern Michigan named him assistant general manager for its football program in 2025, making him the first active NFL player known to hold that kind of college personnel role.
A fourth-round pick who played like he had no time to waste
The Raiders selected Crosby in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, 106th overall, when the franchise was still based in Oakland. His rookie contract was worth roughly $3.3 million.
He did not take long to justify the pick.
As a rookie, Crosby posted 10 sacks, 16 tackles for loss and four forced fumbles. He was named AFC Defensive Player of the Week after a four-sack game against Cincinnati in Week 11, and he finished on the PFWA All-Rookie Team. For a fourth-round edge rusher, it was an immediate statement season.
The numbers dipped some in 2020 after the franchise moved to Las Vegas. Crosby had seven sacks and 39 total tackles that year, but his role did not shrink. He remained a central part of the pass rush, and the traits that would define his game were already obvious: length, burst, flexibility and a motor that keeps running through the whistle.
The jump from promising rusher to centerpiece
A lot of NFL careers stall between “good young player” and “franchise anchor.” Crosby crossed that line in 2021.
He finished with eight sacks, 56 tackles and seven passes defensed, made his first Pro Bowl and earned second-team All-Pro honors. He also won AFC Defensive Player of the Week twice, in Week 1 and Week 18. The Raiders reached the playoffs that season, and in the Wild Card loss to Cincinnati he added a sack, two tackles for loss and two quarterback hits.
By then, his game was no longer just about sack totals. He was affecting entire drives, chasing from the backside, setting edges in the run game and forcing quarterbacks to speed up even when he did not get home.
That all-around value helped lead to a major extension. In March 2022, the Raiders signed him to a four-year, $94 million deal with $53 million guaranteed.
Maxx Crosby became one of the NFL’s most productive defenders
The 2022 season was the clearest sign yet that Crosby had moved into the league’s top tier at his position. He recorded 12.5 sacks, 22 tackles for loss and three forced fumbles, while leading the NFL in tackles for loss. He made another Pro Bowl and strengthened his case as one of the most complete edge defenders in football.
He followed it with an even heavier workload in 2023. Crosby finished with 14.5 sacks, 90 tackles and 23 tackles for loss, again leading the league in TFLs. He made the Pro Bowl, earned second-team All-Pro honors for the second time and picked up another AFC Defensive Player of the Week award.
That season also sharpened the public image of him as more than a pass-rush specialist. Ninety tackles is a big number for a defensive end, and it matched the film: he was around everything.
He continued to stack honors afterward, earning Pro Bowl selections in 2024 and 2025 as well. That gave him five straight trips from the 2021 through 2025 seasons.
Why “The Condor” stuck
Some nicknames feel workshop-tested. “The Condor” fits on first watch.
At the NFL Scouting Combine, Crosby’s 81-inch wingspan was measured as the longest ever recorded there at the time. On the field, that reach shows up everywhere, in how he corners, how he swats at passing lanes, how he finishes tackles and how he keeps blockers from getting clean control of his chest.
His style is built on more than length, though. He wins with effort as much as with tools. Crosby is one of those defenders whose snaps feel crowded. If the play stretches wide, he is in the frame. If the quarterback breaks contain, he is usually part of the chase. If the sack goes to someone else, there is still a good chance he helped force it.
That is why his production has held up over time. He does not rely on one move or one hot month. He creates pressure steadily, and he plays the run with the same urgency.
The contract numbers caught up with the production
By the time the Raiders revisited his deal in 2025, Crosby had become one of the faces of the franchise. In March of that year, he agreed to a three-year, $106.5 million extension with $91.5 million guaranteed, a contract that ran through the 2029 season.
At signing, it made him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL by average annual value.
His rise is easy to trace through the numbers: a modest rookie deal in 2019, the first major extension in 2022, then the market-setting agreement in 2025. That is the financial version of the same story his football career tells, development, proof, then status.
Public estimates of Maxx Crosby net worth and career earnings vary by outlet, so those figures are best treated as estimates rather than fixed facts. What is clear is that his income extends beyond NFL salary. He has built a broad business profile through endorsements, investments and partnerships.
Life away from football
One of the most important parts of Crosby’s public story has nothing to do with sacks. He has spoken openly about alcoholism and about entering rehab in March 2020. He has said he got sober on March 11, 2020, a date he regularly marks as a turning point in his life.
That openness has shaped his work off the field. In 2023, he co-founded the Maxx Crosby Foundation, which focuses on youth substance-abuse awareness, health and wellness, and animal rescue.
His home life is also part of his public profile, though the facts here should stay simple. Crosby is married to Rachel Washburn; the couple married in Nevada in March 2023. They have a daughter, Ella Rose, who was born in October 2022. Reports and lifestyle pieces have also noted that the family has dogs, but there is no need to stretch that into more than a small personal detail.
Away from the stadium, he has expanded into media and business. He hosts The Rush with Maxx Crosby podcast and has been linked publicly to investments or partnerships involving ZenWTR, Slate Milk and Papa John’s locations in Las Vegas. His endorsement work has included brands such as Monster Energy, New Era, Invisalign and Jordan Brand, among others.
There is personality in the details too. Crosby’s tattoos, including a chest piece featuring the phrase “Be Legendary” and portraits tied to athletes he admires, have become part of his visual identity. They fit the way he plays: intense, visible, impossible to mistake for anyone else.
Trade rumors, and what was actually real
A player this productive will draw speculation, especially when teams around the league are always looking for pass rush.
There have been trade rumors involving Crosby, including reported scenarios and social-media proposals linking him to other teams. Those should be treated carefully. Unless a move is officially announced by the teams or confirmed by established reporting, it belongs in the category of rumor or speculation, not fact.
The central fact is simpler: Crosby has been the Raiders’ defensive cornerstone through the life of his extensions, and his standing in the organization has been reflected in both usage and contract value.
The shape of his career
Crosby’s story works because it never needed embellishment. One FBS offer. A redshirt year. A fourth-round draft slot. A fast start in Oakland, bigger responsibility in Las Vegas, and then the kind of week-to-week production that made him one of the league’s most reliable edge defenders.
He is not famous because he was projected to be. He is famous because the work kept showing up on Sundays.
FAQ
Why is Maxx Crosby called The Condor?
Because of his unusual wingspan, long stride and the way he closes on quarterbacks and ball carriers.
Where did Maxx Crosby go to college?
He played at Eastern Michigan after receiving his only FBS scholarship offer from the school.
When did Maxx Crosby get sober?
He has publicly said he got sober on March 11, 2020.
How many Pro Bowls has Maxx Crosby made?
He made five straight Pro Bowls from the 2021 through 2025 seasons.
What is Maxx Crosby contract status?
He signed a three-year, $106.5 million Raiders extension in March 2025, with $91.5 million guaranteed.
Who is Maxx Crosby wife?
He is married to Rachel Washburn.
Photo: Joe Glorioso | All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
