How the season shapes up for the Raiders’ trio of superstars

By Case Keefer (contact)

Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023 | 2 a.m.

The Raiders’ over/under win total at sportsbooks is set at 6.5, putting them squarely among the worst teams in the NFL by public perception.

But there’s one key difference between Las Vegas and teams priced around them at the bottom like the Arizona Cardinals, Houston Texans and Washington Commanders: Las Vegas has top-end talent at marquee positions. The Raiders’ potential should theoretically be higher with wide receiver Davante Adams, edge rusher Maxx Crosby and running back Josh Jacobs all taking the field in their primes this year.

That trio will need some help to elevate the Raiders, but they form a starting point many teams in the league can’t match. Here’s the outlook for each of them going into this season.

Davante Adams

The six-time Pro Bowler set out to prove he could be just as productive with a quarterback other than all-time great Aaron Rodgers last season. He achieved that goal, and then some.

In his first season apart from Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers, Adams led the NFL with 14 receiving touchdowns while finishing third with 1,516 yards and ninth with 100 catches. The 30-year-old is the oldest among this Raiders’ core of three stars and therefore feels the most pressure to find success immediately.

He told The Ringer this offseason that he didn’t see “eye to eye” with the front office on some personnel decisions but has distanced himself from the comments in training camp and locked back in on the task at hand.

“A goal for me is being more efficient at the top of a comeback [route],” Adams said. “It’s not having 1,500 yards again. … It’s not about trying to hit certain numbers. It’s making the tape look a certain way.”

Maxx Crosby

The 26-year-old had his best season a year ago with 12.5 sacks and a league-leading 22 tackles for loss, but advanced statistics indicate he was a bit unlucky not to have even better numbers. And in training camp, it looks like he has taken it up a notch.

Crosby was constantly blowing up offensive linemen across from him, getting into quarterbacks’ faces and celebrating wildly. He said the coaching staff even told him to “chill out” on a few occasions, a request Crosby respectfully declined.

Crosby thinks the Raiders need to play with more passion to help solve their long-running defensive woes and says this is the year they’ll do it, following his lead as a bona fide NFL Defensive Player of the Year contender.

“Every single day I come in here and I think about winning,” Crosby said. “I don’t do this year-round to come in and not make the playoffs. I’m sick of that sh*t.”

Josh Jacobs

Jacobs’ supporters have always argued he could have a season in which he’d emerge as one of the best running backs in the NFL. Last year, he validated that faith.

The 25-year-old, former first round pick out of Alabama led the NFL in rushing yards with 1,653, and yards from scrimmage with 2,053. He hoped such production would earn him a lucrative long-term contract with the Raiders, but the two sides couldn’t agree on a deal and a prolonged dispute ensued.

Jacobs skipped all of training camp to work out on his own in his hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, before finally agreeing to an enhanced, incentive-laced one-year contract worth up to $12 million on August 26. Despite all the missed practice time, Jacobs feels ready to go for the regular season and wants to top what he accomplished last season.

“I know it’s hard to say with the year I had last year, but I feel like there was a lot I still left on the field,” Jacobs said.

This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.