With 67 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. 67.
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. 67.
Lester Cotton Sr. is the current member of the Raiders organization that wears this number, as he had been with the team since signing as an undrafted free agent in 2019. A four-year player at Alabama, Cotton has been able to hang around, making one appearance as a rookie last season, and will look to lock down a roster spot in Year 2.
The No. 67 is an interesting one in Raiders history, as it has yet to be worn by a Pro Bowl player, but the man we choose as the best ever certainly had his moments in the Silver and Black.
Russell Maryland (1996-1999)
The Dallas Cowboys made Russell Maryland the No. 1 overall pick in the 1991 NFL Draft after a career with the Miami Hurricanes that saw him win two national titles. Maryland was a member of three Super Bowl winning teams with Dallas, and like Larry Brown, he signed with the Silver and Black after winning Super Bowl XXX.
Unlike Brown, Maryland actually had a pretty solid career with the Raiders, starting all but one game in his four seasons with the team. In 63 starts, Maryland who wore No. 97 to start his Raiders career, racked up ten sacks, one interception, and two forced fumbles, proving to be a dependable player in the middle of the Raiders offensive line.
Maryland would end up finishing his career in Green Bay, where he started all 16 games for the Packers in 2000. As a former No. 1 overall pick, Russell had a pretty decent career, and it was his work in the Silver and Black that lands him as the best to wear No. 67 in team history.