The Raiders spent big this offseason on the edge, and that means the pass rush has to show up in 2026.
That’s the simplest version of the story. Las Vegas has poured real money and real draft capital into its defensive end room, and after another season near the bottom of the league in pressure, there’s no room left for excuses. If this group doesn’t start making quarterbacks miserable, the rest of the defense is going to feel it.
The stakes are especially high because the Raiders are leaning on a room that isn’t short on experience or salary. Maxx Crosby remains the centerpiece, and John Spytek is the one who handed him the record-breaking deal when he was in charge.
Crosby’s 2025 season was one of the least productive pass-rushing years of his career, and with a $35.8 million cap hit in 2026 - nearly 12% of the team’s total allocation - the production has to climb. His last two seasons produced 7.5 and 10.0 sacks, and that’s not enough for a player carrying that kind of financial weight.
Health is part of the equation for Crosby, too. The hope is that more legitimate help around him keeps him fresher, cuts down on the punishment, and prevents him from living in constant double- and triple-team traffic. That kind of burden has been hard to escape in recent years.
Malcolm Koonce is another expensive piece in the mix. He came back on a one-year, $11 million deal after posting 4.5 sacks a season ago, but that number came while he was still working his way back from an ACL tear.
With more distance from that injury now, the Raiders are betting he can move up a level. He’s effectively the No. 3 edge rusher in the rotation, which should give him cleaner chances and more favorable matchups.
If that doesn’t turn into pressure, the front could be in trouble fast.
Then there’s Kwity Paye, the newcomer who adds another pricey layer to the group. His cap number is just over $9 million this year, but the deal can reach $48 million over the next three seasons.
Between Crosby, Koonce and Paye, Las Vegas is spending like a team that expects impact, not just depth. Paye has to deliver like a player who is worth roughly $16 million per year, and that means looking more like the version who got after the quarterback in 2023 and 2024, not the 2025 version.
The Raiders also used more resources to reinforce the position beyond the veteran trio. They took Keyron Crawford in the third round of the 2026 NFL Draft, and they gave Cian Slone $267,500 in guaranteed money as an undrafted free agent.
Crawford won’t play this season after the injury he suffered in the preseason finale, and Slone is headed to the practice squad for now, so neither changes the immediate outlook. Still, the message from the front office was obvious: the team knew it needed more heat off the edge.
And it spent like it.
Of the $301.2 million the Raiders are allowed to spend this season, $57,298,916 is going to the defensive end room. That works out to roughly 19.02% of the total and more than double what Las Vegas is spending on any other position group. It’s also one of the oldest and most seasoned rooms on the roster, with an average age of 28.0 and 22 combined seasons of experience, tied for the most on the team.
That’s what makes this so cut and dry. This isn’t a developmental group.
It isn’t a bunch of young players learning on the fly. It’s a collection of established veterans who were paid and assembled to do one job: get after the quarterback.
Las Vegas was one of the worst teams in the league in sacks last season, and without an 8-sack outburst against the Kansas City Chiefs’ backups in Week 18, the Raiders would have finished third-to-last in the NFL in team sacks in 2025. That’s the backdrop heading into this year.
So now the pressure is on the pass rush itself. The Raiders invested heavily in the room, and the return has to come quickly. If it doesn’t, the money was wasted, and the defense as a whole will pay for it.
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