Las Vegas Raiders player facing the most pressure in 2026
Ashton Jeanty is probably the name most Las Vegas Raiders fans are expecting here. The franchise took him sixth overall after a record-breaking season at Boise State, and many expected the Heisman finalist to dominate immediately. Instead, he played behind a struggling offensive line, posting respectable, if unspectacular, numbers as a rookie.
The line is better now, and with rookie quarterback Fernando Mendoza set to take over under center, Jeanty figures to see an even bigger workload in 2026.
But the player facing the most immediate pressure is Maxx Crosby.
Crosby is coming off a strong, albeit injury-shortened, 2025 season. In 15 games, he posted 10 sacks, 73 combined tackles, 28 tackles for loss, 20 QB hits, six passes deflected, two forced fumbles, and an interception, earning his fifth straight Pro Bowl nod.
However, he suffered a knee injury that cost him the final two games of the season and eventually turned into one of the offseason’s biggest storylines.
The Raiders had reportedly agreed to send Crosby to Baltimore for two first-round picks, only for the Ravens to back out after their medical evaluation reportedly flagged a degenerative knee issue that they believed could cause problems beyond 2026.
Crosby underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus and has said all the right things since the trade fell through, shutting down any desire to play elsewhere.
Still, the fact that the Raiders were so willing to move their best player once means it could easily happen again.
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Crosby turns 29 in August, and fair or not, questions about his long-term health now linger after a trade partner backed out over what it found in his medical records.
This is a young Raiders team breaking in a rookie QB, and if Las Vegas struggles again, there’s no reason to think the front office would hesitate to explore trading Crosby a second time.
Crosby is undoubtedly one of the best pass rushers in football, and everything he’s said since the botched trade suggests he’s fully committed to being in Vegas for the foreseeable future.
2026 is his chance to prove the knee issue was overblown and that he’s still an elite difference-maker the Raiders can build around.
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