With 55 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. 55.
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. 55.
Vontaze Burfict was the last Raiders player to don the No. 55, as he came to the franchise in a bit of a shocking move for the 2019 NFL campaign. With a checkered history in the NFL, Burfict actually was a tremendous teammate with the Raiders, though a questionable hit in led to him being suspended for the season after only four games.
A solid talent at linebacker in his own right, Burfict was not even close to being the best Raiders linebacker to ever wear No. 55. In fact, there are two men who hold that mantle, so picking between the two was not going to happen.
Let us start by looking at a dominant linebacker who patrolled the Raiders defense in both the 1960s and 1970s.