Raiders Lose Rookie Defensive End To Season-Ending Injury

The Las Vegas Raiders have had a reasonably healthy training camp, but they revealed yesterday that defensive end Keyron Crawford suffered a season-ending injury, according to a report from Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk that referenced coach Klint Kubiak’s updates to the media yesterday. 

Crawford was put on injured reserve on Sunday, but there was no clarification about whether he would have to miss the obligatory four games or be out for a longer stretch. But Kubiak revealed that the Achilles injury he sustained in the Raiders’ final preseason game against the San Francisco 49ers was a season ender, although the coach didn’t specify if it was a tendon tear or not. 

Crawford was selected in the third round by the Raiders back in April, and he wasn’t featured in many camp reports. He began his college career at Arkansas State, then finished at Auburn. 

The silver line here is that this is one of the few position groups where the Raiders have some depth. The names include Maxx Crosby, Malcolm Koonce, Kwity Paye and Patrick Johnson, and the likelihood was that Crawford would most likely be a rotational player, although Johnson was said to have a strong camp and may have been giving Crawford serious competition. 

The Raiders mostly sat their starters during the preseason, although Kubiak finally named quarterback Kirk Cousins as his starter after several weeks of refusing to do that. 

The Raiders offense isn’t expected to be explosive, so they’ll need a strong pass rush to counter that. New defensive coordinator Rob Leonard wants to feature an attacking defense, even though this group is very young, especially in the back end. 

The linchpin here is Crosby. It’s something of a surprise that he’s with the team at all, as the Raiders tried to trade him to the Baltimore Ravens, only to have the trade rescinded when the Ravens didn’t like Crosby’s medicals. 

Crosby also had a relatively quiet camp, although it didn’t start that way. He boasted initially about his ability to flaunt team rules in a podcast appearance, which is something he’s been doing for years, and after that he was parked for a practice when he broke the non-contact rule and hit Cousins in the arm, sparking a brief confrontation. 

Presumably a conversation ensued behind the scenes, since Crosby has been uncharacteristically quiet since then, although he did take  a verbal swipe at his coach during an on-field interview during the Raiders preseason game against the Houston Texans, saying Kubiak didn’t have a “big personality.” 

Crosby does, and he’ll be under pressure to provide a performance to match after an offseason that’s been fraught with ongoing controversy.