For Raiders Veterans Crosby and Wilkins, Everything is a Competition

The Las Vegas Raiders spent the offseason revamping their coaching staff and roster.

They aim to build upon a new culture ushered in by Coach Antonio Pierce's promotion halfway through last season. Along with many new additions to the roster that are expected to help the team on the field on game day, Coach Pierce hopes a continued sense of competition continues to bring the best out of his players.

He noted that the competitiveness has increased with the addition of veteran defensive lineman Christian Wilkins.

"If I could just say a little bit on Maxx and Christian, I think the best thing and the greatest thing for the Raiders that we're seeing is two alpha competitors compete in everything,” Pierce said on Thursday. “And that just goes back to the question earlier about quarterback competition. These guys are competing in everything: the first one to get off the rock, first one to win the individual drill, first one to run from the jungle gym all the way to field one. I mean, everything is a competition.”

Pierce noted that the increasing competition between Crosby and Wilkins has had ripple effects on the team. He said one of the primary benefits of having competitions over big and small things is that every other player on the roster raises their respective games like their leaders, Crosby and Wilkins.

“So, what is happening with our team? Everybody's following,” Pierce said. “When I first got here, it was the Maxx Crosby show, fanboy central, waving hands. It was Maxx and then the band. Well, now it's Maxx Crosby - well, you know what? It's the Raiders running across the field. What you're seeing on the other side of the ball is guys competing.

“Everything I've talked about in every phase one, phase two, phase three, minicamp - competing. When we get to training camp, it's competing. It's Raiders versus Raiders until we get to Week One of the preseason and Week One of the regular season. The Raiders are going to be not the best of friends when we get to training camp. It's not going to be pretty, it's going to be ugly, I'm sure it's going to be violent. And then we'll love one another, and we'll do it against somebody else.”

As the Raiders look to build upon a successful second half of last season, Pierce hopes the changes the team has made will lead to a successful entire season at the helm. With all of the changes that the Raiders have made this offseason, encouraging constant competition at as many positions as possible should not only help the Raiders select the best starters possible, but it will also improve the backup players.

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