The Raiders made a significant upgrade to their defensive front by signing tackle Christian Wilkins to a four-year deal in free agency.
Wilkins, 28, is coming off a season where he registered a career-high 9.0 sacks to go along with his 10 tackles for loss and 23 quarterback hits.
In a Tuesday press conference, defensive end Maxx Crosby said he’s looking forward to working with Wilkins.
“I think the main thing in his career that has stood out to me is just the fact that he’s gotten better every single year,” Crosby said. “If you look from a production standpoint, look at his one-on-one pass rushes, his games, everything is consistently getting better. And there’s no secret to why he should have [gotten] taken care of because of what he’s done and how he has continued to ascend, and he’s still young. And that’s something I really like to look at, especially with upcoming guys.
“He was written off early too — a lot of people were doubting him like his first couple years in this league, and he’s continued to shut up all the doubters. So I respect the shit out of that because I know what that what that’s like, and I know what it takes. So yeah, that’s something that really stood out to me, is just that he’s continued to get better and better every single season.”
That being said, Crosby doesn’t consider it a given that the pair will excel on the field together.
“I mean, potential is one thing, action is another. For us, it’s about the work. We have a ton of work to do,” Crosby said. “Me and Christian haven’t played a single snap together, we haven’t done a single rep together. So, at the end of the day, we’ve got a ton of work to do.
“I’ve said it many times, Christian is a great player. I’ve been watching Christian and seeing his career from afar for a long time. … So, I think everything happens for a reason, and I’m fired up to get to work with him. He was here today and had a ton of energy, fired up and ready to go. So, I know that energy is infectious, and that’s something I try to bring, that’s something he tries to bring, and we just want to bring everybody with us because at the end of the day you win and lose games in the trenches. If you’ve got a dominant D-line and Oline, you’re going to be in every single game no matter what. So, we’re banking on that, we take a lot of pride in that and we’re looking forward to being the engine and the generator for this team.”
Wilkins has played all 17 games in each of the last three seasons. He was on the field for 81 percent of Miami’s defensive snaps last year.
In 81 career games, he has 20.5 sacks, 43 tackles for loss, and 50 quarterback hits.
