With 88 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. 88.
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 the Carolina Panthers. That game will kick off the new era of Raiders football.
We continue our series with No. 88.
The Raiders have had a few solid players don the No. 88 during their career, including Ethan Horton, who played for the team for six seasons from 1987 through 1993. Interestingly enough, Horton was cut by the team in 1988, before being asked to come back by owner Al Davis, and he would then go on to make his first, and only Pro Bowl in 1991.
However, our top Raider to wear the No. 88 actually started out as No. 87, and is a player who started his career with the Raiders, left, and then came back to finish it out with the team.
Raymond Chester (1970-72, 1978-81)
The Raiders made Raymond Chester the No. 24 overall pick in the 1970 NFL Draft, and he would make an instant impact at the NFL level. Chester wore No. 87 in his first stint with the Raiders organization, making the Pro Bowl in his first three seasons, before being traded away to the Baltimore Colts for Bubba Smith.
Chester was a touchdown machine in his first stint with the Raiders, hauling in at least seven touchdowns in each season, while bringing in a career-high eight before being traded. He played for the Baltimore Colts from 1973 through 1977, but did not have the same kind of success he had donning the Silver and Black.
In his second go-around with the team, Chester once again was named a Pro Bowler, as he made his fourth, and final appearance in 1979. He was a key member of the Raiders Super Bowl winning team in 1981, where he appeared in all 16 games, and had two catches for 24 yards in the win over the Minnesota Vikings.