It might be an exaggeration to declare 49ers right tackle Colton McKivitz won the day against Raiders star edge rusher Maxx Crosby.

But McKivitz’s showing on Thursday left him feeling good about the direction he is heading as the regular season approaches.

It was a stark contrast to the joint practice involving the Raiders and 49ers two years ago, when Crosby pretty much did whatever he wanted.

McKivitz said he and Crosby chatted briefly at the conclusion of practice this time.

“I told him, ‘A little different than two years ago, huh?’ ” McKivitz told NBC Sports Bay Area. “He said, ‘Yeah, doing good,’ and ‘Keep the main thing, the main thing,’ which is obviously balling and doing your thing.”

McKivitz took over as the 49ers’ starter for the 2023 season when Mike McGlinchey signed a lucrative free-agent contract with the Denver Broncos.

McKivitz got off to a rough start in the season opener that year, surrendering three sacks to Pittsburgh defensive end T.J. Watt.

He has shown steady improvement since then.

After allowing nine sacks and 47 total pressures in his first year as the starter, according to PFF, McKivitz dropped those numbers to two sacks and 36 total pressures last year.

The number of pressures allowed was still too high, and McKivitz is using his rough practice two years ago as a measuring stick for how far he has come and how much more he can still improve.

“It didn’t go how I wanted it to last (time) with him, but this year, a different mindset, and I’m a different person, mentally, physically and emotionally,” McKivitz said. “I went out there and had a pretty solid practice against him.”

Of course, Crosby is still Crosby, so he won his share of the matchups, too.

“You can feel Maxx every play,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said. “I know he got a couple of them, but I think Colton got a couple, too.”

All-Pro left tackle Trent Williams was held out of practice, so Crosby lined up primarily against McKivitz, who realized the benefits of going up against a player at the top of his game.

“Being on the other side of Trent, he’s going to get their best shot, and then they’re going to come over and see me,” McKivitz said. “So my goal is to make it as close as I can get to Trent as possible.”

In a sense, going up against a player such as Crosby is more difficult in practice, McKivitz said. In a regular-season game, the 49ers would put together a scheme to go against defensive lineman. McKivitz referenced how the 49ers always game-plan against Los Angeles Rams star Aaron Donald.

But in a practice, it’s usually just one-on-one.

“For him, we’ll probably scheme a guy like that,” McKivitz said of Crosby. “To have all the one-on-one reps, it’s just a confidence-builder to see where you’re at in the preseason and if you need to go back and fix things. It tells you where you’re at in a projection for the year.”

Quarterback Brock Purdy’s job performance is greatly influenced by how well McKivitz plays, and he likes what he has seen.

“He’s done a great job this whole offseason, and I think (practice) was a really good test going against Maxx and some of those guys on the edge,” Purdy said of McKivitz. “And he’s done a tremendous job.”

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