How Raiders’ Maxx Crosby got clean, became a Pro Bowl edge rusher
By Anna Katherine Clemmons
Special to FOX Sports
Maxx Crosby woke up covered in sweat. His toes were cramping from dehydration. His whole body hurt. He stood up, head spinning, and looked in the mirror.
“I don’t even f—— recognize myself,” he thought.
It was Feb. 28, 2020.
The 6-foot-5, 265-pound defensive end had just finished a strong rookie season with the then-Oakland Raiders, earning second place in the AP Rookie Defensive Player of the Year voting to the San Francisco 49ers‘ Nick Bosa. Crosby had started 10 games and played in all 16 that season, totaling a team-leading 10 sacks and 47 tackles.
But as soon as the season ended in January, Crosby started partying. He went on benders until the early morning hours, sometimes blacking out. Occasionally, he mixed in cocaine or other drugs. But it was alcohol that he craved, just to put him in a good mood to start his day.
Crosby knew his alcohol dependency wasn’t “normal.” He had tried to get clean before, but his sobriety didn’t last.
Now, as he looked at himself in the mirror, he felt like he was at a crossroads. He pondered his options: Keep partying and likely ruin his career before it really began, or try to change — and see just how good a football player he could be.
Maxx Crosby on and off the field
Take a behind-the-scenes look at Maxx Crosby and the breakout success he had last season for the Las Vegas Raiders.
Crosby wasn’t sure he could stay clean, and he didn’t even know what he needed to make that happen. But he was sure that he wanted to overcome an addiction he’d harbored since high school.
“When I decide to get my s— together, I don’t think anything can stop me,” Crosby said. “If I truly believe in something, I am going to go to the end of the world to make it happen.”
He called his agent. He called his former longtime girlfriend, Rachel, even though she had broken up with him two months prior.
“I need help,” he told them both. “I have a problem.”
Rachel was living with her parents in Florida, where Crosby had recently visited her to apologize. She flew to Las Vegas on March 9, 2020; two days later, she and Scott Gorman, a sobriety coach, drove Crosby to an in-patient rehabilitation facility in Los Angeles.
What he couldn’t know then is that it would work — that he would work hard, stay clean and dominate on the field as a result.
Crosby started all 17 games for Las Vegas in the 2021 regular season, leading the NFL in QB pressures despite playing in a defense that blitzed a league-low 12.1% of the time. He became just the third player in the past 15 years to record at least 100 pressures in the regular season, joining Aaron Donald and J.J. Watt.
In February, the 24-year-old Raiders co-captain played in his first Pro Bowl, where, in front of a home crowd at Allegiant Stadium, Crosby earned Defensive MVP honors. A few weeks later, he signed a four-year, $98.98 million contract extension with Las Vegas.
“Everyone always told me what I couldn’t do my whole life,” Crosby said. “F— what everyone has to say. That’s how I look at it. I want to be the best. And if I’m not, I will work as hard as I can to get close to that.”
Get more from National Football League Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more.
