The Greatest Las Vegas Raiders Players of All Time
For all Al Davis's talk of "Just win, baby," it takes more than wins to rank the greatest Las Vegas Raiders players. Every player here is named on at least 4 of the 12 Raiders honors and all-time rankings counted for this list: the Pro Football Hall of Fame and eleven press rankings, since the Raiders keep no ring of honor, team hall of fame or retired numbers. Players left off no more than three of the sources that could have named them start in the top group; everyone else who clears the door starts below them, and your votes set the order from there.
Jim Otto is #1 on “The Greatest Las Vegas Raiders Players of All Time”.
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Jim Otto
Oakland's center wore 50 as a rookie in 1960 and switched to 00 at the equipment manager's suggestion, a number he kept through 1974. In those 15 seasons he started 210 consecutive regular-season games, played in all 9 AFL All-Star Games and won All-AFL honors 10 seasons running, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame; the 1967 club won the AFL title before losing Super Bowl II to Green Bay. A center's stat line rarely holds a catch, and his holds 1 reception, made at Pittsburgh on December 23, 1972, in a playoff the Raiders lost 13-7. All 12 sources counted here name him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Otto - 2
Ken Stabler
Christmas Eve 1977 in Baltimore ran into a 2nd overtime before his 10-yard throw to Dave Casper settled a 37-31 playoff win. He played for Oakland from 1970 through 1979, as its starting quarterback from 1973, took the 1974 MVP award and went to Pro Bowls after the 1973, 1974, 1976 and 1977 seasons. His completion percentage topped the league in 1973 and again in 1976, at 66.7 percent, the season that ended with the Raiders' first Super Bowl win, and after his last Oakland season, 1979, their career leads in completions (1,486), passing yards (19,078) and touchdown passes (150) were his, with Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement coming in 2016. He's named on 11 of the 12 sources counted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Stabler - 3
Gene Upshaw
When Oakland beat Philadelphia 27-10 in Super Bowl XV on January 25, 1981, he became the first player to appear in 3 Super Bowls for one team in 3 different decades, having also played in II and XI. That was his 14th season at guard for the Raiders, who had him from 1967 through 1981, and against the Eagles he, center Dave Dalby and guard Mickey Marvin outmatched the nose tackle and both inside linebackers. Taken 17th overall in 1967, he started his first 231 games in a row, playoffs included, and his 6 straight Pro Bowls covered 1972 to 1977. Every one of the 12 counted sources lists him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Upshaw - 4
Marcus Allen
His 1985 season brought 1,759 rushing yards on 380 carries, 11 rushing touchdowns, the MVP award and the offensive player of the year award. Los Angeles kept him from 1982, when he was the top offensive rookie, through 1992, and sent him to 5 Pro Bowls. Super Bowl XVIII, on January 22, 1984, gave him 191 rushing yards, a 74-yard touchdown run and the game's MVP award in a 38-9 rout of Washington. A contract dispute with Al Davis soured his last seasons in Los Angeles before he left for Kansas City in 1993. Count him on 12 of 12.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Allen - 5
Tim Brown
A punt return on December 9, 2001, went 88 yards for a touchdown against Kansas City, and at 35 he was then the oldest player in league history to score that way. A year after winning the Heisman Trophy he went 6th overall to the Raiders, in 1988, and he caught passes for them in Los Angeles and Oakland until 2003. He holds the franchise marks for receptions (1,070) and receiving yards (14,734), collected 9 Pro Bowl selections along the way and got his Pro Football Hall of Fame bust in 2015. Between 1993 and 2001 he strung together 9 straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons. None of the 12 sources leaves him off.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Brown_(American_football) - 6
Art Shell
Super Bowl XI, on January 9, 1977, put Minnesota defensive end Jim Marshall across from him at left tackle, and his blocking, with Gene Upshaw's and Dave Casper's, held Marshall without a tackle. The Raiders ran for 266 yards, a Super Bowl best at the time, and won 32-14 in his 9th season with a franchise that drafted him 80th overall in 1968 and kept him through 1982, with 8 Pro Bowl nods in that span. A run of 156 straight games ended with a 1979 preseason injury. He won Super Bowls XI and XV, and in 1989, the year the Pro Football Hall of Fame elected him, the Raiders made him the modern NFL's first Black head coach. Of the 12 sources counted here, 11 include him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Shell - 7
Howie Long
His career high for sacks in a game is 5, set against Washington on October 2, 1983, in the season Los Angeles finished as Super Bowl XVIII champion. The Raiders found him at Villanova and drafted him in 1981; he stayed through 1993, 1 season in Oakland and 12 in Los Angeles, a span that included 8 trips to the Pro Bowl starting in 1983, and the NEA made him a co-winner of its 1985 defensive player award. Each of the 1983, 1984 and 1985 seasons closed with an All-Pro first-team nod for him, and the league later placed him on its All-Decade list for the 1980s. He appears on 11 of the 12 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howie_Long - 8
Willie Brown
Oakland got 12 seasons at cornerback from him, 1967 through 1978, after he'd spent 4 years in Denver. As a Raider he intercepted 39 passes and made 4 consecutive Pro Bowls, 1970 to 1973. His election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame came in 1984, his first year eligible, while he was coaching Raiders defensive backs, a job he held from 1979 to 1988. Super Bowl XI is where his name sticks: with the Raiders already ahead of Minnesota, he grabbed a throw meant for Sammy White and ran it back 75 yards for the clinching touchdown, a Super Bowl record at the time. You'll find him on 10 of 12.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Brown_(American_football) - 9
Fred Biletnikoff
His 1967 season produced 21.9 yards per catch, the league's best average, and Oakland went on to win the AFL championship that year. He caught passes for the Raiders from 1965 through 1978, and from 1967 to 1976 he put together 10 straight seasons of 40 or more receptions. The franchise got 589 catches, 8,974 yards and 76 touchdowns out of him, and he played in 4 Pro Bowls. In Super Bowl XI his 4 catches for 79 yards set up 3 Oakland scores and earned him the game's MVP award, and from 1989 he coached Raider receivers. The league banned Stickum, which he popularized, in 1981. His count is 9 of 12.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Biletnikoff - 10
Charles Woodson
In Week 5 of 2013 he recovered a San Diego fumble and returned it for his 13th touchdown on defense, counting his Green Bay years, and it tied the NFL record. That was his first season back with the Raiders, whose first stint with him ran from 1998, when the AP voted him the best rookie on defense, to 2005; the second lasted through 2015. Oakland years brought 5 Pro Bowls, 4 straight starting in 1998 and 1 more at 39 in 2015. He had an interception in the Super Bowl XXXVII loss to Tampa Bay, and his 18 forced fumbles were the franchise's career high when he retired. His final season included 5 interceptions, 2 of them off Peyton Manning. He's on 8 of the 12 counted sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Woodson - 11
Ted Hendricks
His Raiders debut season, 1975, brought a playoff win over Cincinnati in which he sacked Ken Anderson 4 times, the last sack pushing the Bengals out of field goal range. He had come from Baltimore and Green Bay, and he stayed at linebacker for Oakland and then Los Angeles through 1983. His 4 Pro Bowls as a Raider ran from 1980 through 1983, and 1990 was his Pro Football Hall of Fame year; Mad Stork, his nickname, dates to his college years at Miami. He was on the title teams of Super Bowls XI, XV and XVIII, and in XV, 54 seconds before halftime, he blocked Tony Franklin's 28-yard field goal try. The tally for him is 7 of 12.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Hendricks - 12
Cliff Branch
In the 1974 AFC Championship he caught 9 passes for 186 yards and a touchdown, though Pittsburgh won in Oakland 24-13; the game capped a year in which he topped the NFL in both receiving yards and touchdown receptions. Drafted in 1972's 4th round, he played receiver for the Raiders through 1985, a stretch with 3 Super Bowl titles, and 1974 started a 3-year All-Pro first-team streak. When he retired he held the NFL's career playoff records for catches and receiving yards, marks Jerry Rice broke in 1993 and 1994; the Pro Football Hall of Fame selected him in 2022. He shows up on 6 of the 12 sources counted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cliff_Branch - 13
Dave Casper
The Holy Roller, at San Diego on September 10, 1978, ended with him: Oakland trailed 20-14 in the 4th quarter, Ken Stabler fumbled the ball forward, and he kicked it along from the San Diego 5 and fell on it in the end zone to tie the score, and Oakland won 21-20. It came in his 5th season at tight end for Oakland, which drafted him in 1974 and kept him until 1980; Houston and Minnesota came next, and he came back to the Raiders, by then in Los Angeles, for 1984. Every season from 1976 through 1979 brought him a Pro Bowl invitation, and in the double-overtime playoff at Baltimore after the 1977 season his 42-yard over-the-head catch set up the tying field goal. He's listed on 5 of the 12 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Casper - 14
Ray Guy
No pure punter had gone into the Pro Football Hall of Fame before 2014, when he did. He punted for the franchise from 1973 through 1986, 9 seasons in Oakland and 5 in Los Angeles, after going 23rd overall in the 1973 draft. In Super Bowl XVIII he punted 7 times for 299 yards, and 5 of those kicks pinned Washington inside its own 20 in a 38-9 Raiders win. His 1,049 punts averaged 42.4 yards, and All-Pro voters made him their first-team punter in each of his first 6 seasons; his rings came from the XI, XV and XVIII titles. His name is on 4 of the 12 sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Guy - 15
Mike Haynes
His 97-yard interception return against Miami in 1984 was a team record when he made it, part of a season in which his 220 interception return yards led the NFL. After 7 seasons in New England he joined the Los Angeles Raiders in November 1983 through a settlement that sent the Patriots draft picks, and he stayed through 1989. He played the last 5 regular-season games of 1983 and then started Super Bowl XVIII, where he had an interception and 2 pass breakups in the win over Washington. With Lester Hayes at the other corner, he earned Pro Bowl spots after the 1984, 1985 and 1986 seasons. He appears on 4 of 12 counted sources.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Haynes_(cornerback) - 16
Steve Wisniewski
In 2000 he was Oakland's starting left guard in all 16 games and both playoff games, blocking for a running game whose 2,470 yards were the most in the NFL; the team went 12-4, beat Miami 27-0 and lost the AFC Championship to Baltimore 16-3, and his 8th Pro Bowl selection came that year. Dallas used a 2nd-round choice on him in 1989 and dealt his rights to the Raiders before that draft ended; he was their guard through 2001, in Los Angeles first and Oakland after the 1995 move. Every one of his 206 games was a start, injuries cost him 2 regular-season starts in 13 years, and the 1990s All-Decade Team chosen by the league includes him at guard. He's counted on 4 sources out of 12.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wisniewski - 17
Jack Tatum
On September 24, 1972, he scooped up a Green Bay fumble and ran 104 yards with it to score; no fumble return in NFL history had gone longer, and Aeneas Williams later matched it. Oakland made him a 1st-round pick, 19th overall, in 1971 and played him at safety for 9 seasons, through 1979, before a last year in Houston. His 3 Pro Bowls came back to back to back, 1973 through 1975, and he picked off 19 passes in his first 6 seasons, the last of them the 1976 season that ended with Oakland's Super Bowl XI win. The sources counted here put him at 4 of 12.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Tatum - 18
Phil Villapiano
Miami came to 12-2 Oakland for a playoff on December 21, 1974, the game known as the Sea of Hands, fell behind 28-26 and got the ball back with 24 seconds left, and on the drive's 2nd play he intercepted a Bob Griese pass at the Raiders 45-yard line, which let Oakland run out the rest of the clock. Oakland had him at linebacker for 9 seasons, from his 1971 rookie year until 1979, with Pro Bowl berths every year from 1973 to 1976 and All-Pro first teams including him in 1975 and 1976; Buffalo got his next 4 seasons. Count 4 of 12 for him.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Villapiano - 19
Sebastian Janikowski
Kickers seldom go in the 1st round, yet Oakland used the 17th pick of the 2000 draft on him, and he kicked in 17 seasons for the Raiders, 2000 through 2016, before spending 2017 on injured reserve. In his 12th season, on September 12, 2011, in a rainy first half against Denver, he made a 63-yard field goal that tied what was then the NFL record, set by Tom Dempsey in 1970, and topped his own 61-yard Raiders record from a 2009 game against Cleveland. His Pro Bowl came that same season, as did 6 field goals against Chicago on November 27, a team record then. His 1,799 points and his games played are both Raiders records, and he kicked 1 more season, in Seattle. He's on 4 of the 12.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastian_Janikowski - 20
Chester McGlockton
His sacks peaked in 1994 at 9.5, the start of 4 straight Pro Bowl seasons through 1997. The Raiders made the Clemson product the 16th pick in 1992, when the team still played in Los Angeles; he lined up at defensive tackle for them through 1997, the last 3 seasons back in Oakland. His Raiders sack totals ran 7 in 1993, 9.5 in 1994, 7.5 in 1995 and 8 in 1996. Kansas City, Denver and the Jets had him from 1998 to 2003, and Stanford later put him on its defensive staff. Of the 12 sources, 4 carry his name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_McGlockton
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