Countdown to 2020: Best Raiders player to wear No. 95
With only 95 days until the opening game of 2020, we start the count down with the best Raiders player at every jersey number. Today we focus on No. 95
With the season a few months away, we take a look at the best player to wear the jersey number of the number of days left before the opener on September 13, 2020 against Carolina. That game will kick off the new era of Raiders football.
We continue our series with No. 95.
Number 95 is a great number for a defensive lineman with the likes of Pro Football Hall of Famers Richard Dent and Charles Haley donning the number for their respective franchises but unfortunately for the Raiders it’s slim pickings.
The Raiders had high hopes for defensive lineman Jihad Ward when they chose him in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft but he flamed out of Oakland after just two seasons. So for the number 95 jersey, the best player to don it for the Raiders had a very short but memorable tenure in the early 2000s.
Sam Adams (2002)
Sam Adams was one of the best defensive linemen in the NFL during his lengthy career with the Seahawks, Ravens, Raiders, Bills, and Broncos. Due to his position as a defensive tackle that lined up at nose tackle occasionally, his statistics do not jump off the page but his impact on the game was felt in other ways.
His best seasons came with the Ravens when he was part of the historic defense that won Super Bowl XXXV in dominant fashion.
After a brief stop in Baltimore, Adams came to Oakland on a one-year deal in 2002 and helped anchor a solid defense that complimented Rich Gannon’s offense en route to Super Bowl XXXVII. That team was known mostly for the offensive talent surrounding NFL MVP Gannon but the defense was good enough to hold its own.
Thanks to Adams swallowing up double teams from his defensive tackle or nose tackle position, the Raiders had the third best rush defense in the NFL. That same ability to draw double teams thanks to his massive 6’3” 350lb frame helped the Raiders finish 5th in the NFL in sacks with 43 though Adams only contributed two sacks to that total.
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Though his contributions to the Raiders were short-lived, Adams was a key figure in the best Raiders season in two decades and that alone should be enough to garner him this recognition. Combined with the serious lack of competition for the number 95 crown makes Adams the easy choice even if he needed a lot of help stretching that jersey over that big body.