Oakland Raiders: The franchise's all-time team
When you've been around as long as the Raiders have, you're bound to have some elite football talents grace their presence on your roster. From the days back in the AFL, to the 14-year tenure in Los Angeles, to the last 22 years in Oakland, to whatever lies ahead for this renegade NFL franchise, the Raiders will commit to excellence.
Simply put, one cannot tell the story of the NFL without several chapters about the Silver and Black. The late Al Davis had done more to grow this game than most NFL owners. It hasn't always glittered like gold for Raider Nation, but so much of the past is celebrated and the future is blinding bright for this team.
What we're going to do get this football season on the right track is to take a look back on some of the very best to have worn the Silver and Black. The Raiders' all-time team could hang with anybody's. Here are the 24 Raiders legends and one unforgettable coach that made the cut to make this all-time team.
Ken Stabler
The Raiders have had plenty of excellent, but not transcendent quarterbacks over the years. It's not to say that the team is deficient in the passing game historically by any capacity, but other teams have had more impactful professional signal callers. However if there is any quarterback that embodied greatness for the Silver and Black, look no further than Ken Stabler.
His nickname was The Snake and he had one of the greatest runs by a quarterback in football history. Stabler's Run in the Mud against Auburn during his senior year with the Alabama Crimson Tide in 1967 is one of the greatest moments in Iron Bowl history. Stabler was just getting started as a scrambling, southpaw quarterback. He lit it up for the Raiders from 1970 to 1979.
Stabler started 96 games for the Raiders in the 1970s, going 69-26-1. He made four trips to the Pro-Bowl, earning All-Pro honors in 1974, the same year he was named NFL MVP. Stabler was the quarterback of the Raiders when they won Super Bowl XI over the Minnesota Vikings during the 1976 NFL campaign.
Overall, Stabler's career stats of 27,938 passing yards, 194 touchdowns and 222 career interceptions were long considered good, but not great. Stabler was posthumously enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016, only one year after his death from colon cancer in 2015. As a Raider, Stabler embodied the play hard, party harder philosophy during his 10 years in Oakland. He was ahead of his time as a prototype dual-threat quarterback for sure.
Honorable mentions: Derek Carr (2014-present), Rich Gannon (1999-04), Daryle Lamonica (1967-74), Jim Plunkett (1979-86)