Sports are all about competition. The desire to be better and beat the other person or team. In the NFL, that competitive drive is essential for success. And as the Las Vegas Raiders undergo a rebuild, they’re leaning into that mindset by building around two of the league’s most competitive players: tight end Brock Bowers and edge rusher Maxx Crosby.
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Bowers was a first-round pick who broke multiple rookie records last year, while Crosby was a Day 3 pick who has turned into a perennial Pro Bowler and one of the longest-serving members of the Raiders.
Because Bowers is a tight end and Crosby is a defensive end, that means that they will regularly match up with each other during training sessions. Bowers recently opened up about those reps on the Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, revealing that he thinks Crosby is so competitive, he sometimes cheats to beat him in practice.
“I’m gonna try [to win every rep]. (Laughs) But he’s tough, dude. He’s tough. He’s a tough dude to block,” the tight end said.
“Oh, he jumps around, even at practice, I swear he looks at what we’re doing, he dissects what we’re lined up in. It’s nuts, he takes everything so seriously, and it’s so awesome to see him work.”
Will Compton, one of the podcast’s hosts and a former NFL veteran of nine years, also asked Bowers about a hilarious report involving Crosby from last year. According to the story, Crosby was so competitive and disruptive during practice that coaches had to ask him to stand on the sideline while the offense ran their system installs. Bowers confirmed that this was, in fact, the case.
“In run game stuff, it was a little dicey sometimes, because he’d be jumping around, jumping in the C-gap, running the edge, he’d get in the backfield so fast, it’s not even funny… Oh yeah, 100 percent, sometimes the defense is looking at the [offensive] script,” Bowers revealed.
Taylor Lewan, the other host and another former NFLer, said the offensive script for NFL practices would often be hung up in the equipment room, and that he’d see defensive players sneaking a peek more often than not. No doubt, Crosby’s competitiveness pushes him to do the same.
Crosby has also spoken recently about his desire to win. He’s been a lone bright spot on a down-on-their-luck Raiders team for the past few years. But the new regime, with part-owner Tom Brady and head coach Pete Carroll, is changing things in the DE’s eyes. That’s why he signed on for three more years.
More importantly, Crosby appreciated the respect he got from the new regime.
“It’s an honor, obviously, having the Raiders with a new staff and new regime come in and show me that type of respect… We’re trying to win. I want to win so badly. I put everything into it. I want everybody else to think like that. And that’s been my goal, just bringing as many guys along as I possibly can.”
If the Raiders can get a few more players like Crosby and Bowers, who are all about winning—perhaps rookie first-rounder Ashton Jeanty will be another part of that growing nucleus of talent—they could wreak some havoc. Even in the tough AFC West.
