HENDERSON, Nev. — The first person Von Miller wanted to hear from was Maxx Crosby. After about two hours of on-the-field work at a local high school down the street from Raiders headquarters Saturday, the Bills’ star called up the Raiders’ edge rusher to stand in front of a projector in the center of an auditorium.
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Surrounded by All-Pro defenders such as Micah Parsons, Cam Jordan, Jeffery Simmons and Bobby Wagner, along with several other defensive tackles, defensive ends and linebackers, Crosby guided the room through film showing several of his best pass rush snaps from last season. Having Crosby lead off the film session of the seventh annual Von Miller Pass Rush Summit was an intentional choice by the event’s namesake. Starting in 2024, he’ll rename the summit and transition from a sole host to having a co-host role with players like Crosby and Jordan to create a yet-to-be-finalized group of specialists at bringing down quarterbacks.
“I done did it for seven years, man. I realized that I’m not going to be this Von Miller forever,” Miller said Saturday. “We have the perfect timing to be able to rebrand it to where athletes like Maxx — he’s Mr. Vegas; we have the pass rush summit here in Vegas — I can bring him and Cam Jordan and Micah just to ensure that this event continues to grow and be bigger and better each and every year.”
The change will take the focus off Miller and allow others to step into leadership roles among the league’s family of pass rushers. It’s not a position Crosby takes lightly.
“It’s an honor, to say the least,” Crosby said Saturday. “Von reached out a couple of weeks ago, and we talked about it. He was like, ‘Hey, we’re trying to expand, build it up, make it bigger and get more people involved.’ So, just being one of the guys that can be involved with that, it means the world, man.”
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Besides Crosby, three other Raiders participated in the summit: defensive tackles Matthew Butler and Adam Butler and edge rusher Adam Plant Jr. Going into the final week of OTAs, it provided the teammates an opportunity to learn from some of the league’s best.
“It’s a blessing to be out here around such great guys,” Plant said Saturday. “These are the top players and pass rushers in the league and some of the best D-tackles and D-ends that the world will ever see. So, just seeing what they are talking about and soaking up all this knowledge, man, it’s a great thing. I’m just trying to do every little thing I can to try to up my game and take all the little bits and pieces of knowledge that I can and add it to my repertoire.”
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At the beginning of the on-the-field session, the players in attendance split into two groups. Jordan and Simmons led one group at one end of the field while Miller, Crosby and Parsons led another group at the other end. There were natural subgroups that broke off as players constantly asked Jordan, Simmons, Miller, Crosby and Parsons questions, watched as they demonstrated an array of pass rush and run defense moves and listened as they explained minute details of technique and fundamentals. After about an hour, the groups rotated before repeating the process. Crosby was among those whom players sought out the most.
“It’s incredible, man,” Crosby said. “It’s honestly just a testament of the hard work. Every single day I show up and try to get better, and the film doesn’t lie. And that’s really what I try to tell the young guys is it takes every day and all year round to become a great player. And I’m still working. I’ve still got a lot of room to grow, but just seeing people pay their respect is a big deal.”
Maxx Crosby (left) and Von Miller (right) take part in the seventh annual Von Miller Pass Rush Summit on Saturday. (Tashan Reed / The Athletic)Even among players who suit up for divisional rivals, there was no hesitation to share the tricks of the trade. At least for one day, they put aside their competitive conflicts to create a reciprocal exchange of information in an effort to improve.
“No. I mean, they’re not on the field with me. I’m just at peace with my game and who I am,” Miller said when asked if it bothers him to help his competitors. “This is my 13th year in the league. I’m on my third contract. I’ve got two sons. I’ve won two Super Bowls. What I look like out here holding back secrets? What I look like out here getting jealous? What I look like? That’s more of a personal issue than actually being something real. I enjoy when those guys go out and get sacks.”
For those who stuck around, the sharing continued in the film session. Miller, Crosby, Parsons, Jordan, Simmons, Carl Lawson, Greg Rousseau and DaQuan Jones all broke down their tape while the audience kept asking questions, eagerly jotting down notes and watching intently. Regardless of whether players were unproven rookies or accomplished veterans, everyone in attendance stood to benefit.
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“I really want them to focus on the mental part of this,” Miller said when asked what he wants the biggest takeaway from the summit to be. “You want to be at peace. There’s so many different things that can throw off your peace, from Pro Football Focus to announcers on TV, that you want to be at peace. You want to put in the work. You want to get yourself to a point where if it goes right, cool, and if it don’t, you know that you did everything that you can do to have success. And as soon as I get the young guys to realize that, they can go and take that and make it their own.
“That’s the things that I dealt with: going out there and feeling like I should be making plays and feeling like I should be changing the game, and it just doesn’t happen, and you feel like you let your team down and you let yourself down. To have the perspective of ‘I’m doing everything that I can possibly do to have success, whether I have it or not,’ that gives me peace.”
The aim is to keep growing the summit and compile a broader group of participants every year in Vegas. And for Crosby, in particular, it’s a useful resource to help in his quest to be the best edge rusher in the league.
“Being around the best guys, learning and hearing how they approach the game and just seeing what I can take from them and what I can learn from them, it’s just me trying to improve in every way,” Crosby said. “It doesn’t have to always be physical. Like, out here today, we’re not flying around and doing a lot of drills, but we’re all talking ball and getting better and learning the game, and that’s just as important as the physical part. So, yeah, man, that’s my goal: I want to be the best, undisputed, in the league, and I talk about it all the time. It’s a daily process, and I feel like I’m definitely going in the right direction.”
(Top photo: Eliza Biglete)
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