With 52 days remaining until the 2020 season, we continue our countdown of looking at the best Raiders player to wear each jersey number.
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. 52.
The Raiders franchise has been blessed with some all-time players, and the best to ever wear the No. 52 was well on his way to being one of them. However, before Khalil Mack ever put on a Raider uniform, Kirk Morrison wore that jersey number, and he had himself one heck of a run with the Silver and Black.
A third round pick of the franchise in the 2005 NFL Draft, Morrison was a tackling machine during his time with the organization, stepping in as a rookie and becoming one of the team leaders on that side of the ball. He never had less than 116 tackles in a season with the Raiders, and in 2008, he had a career-high 137.
Morrison also had a good nose for the ball, racking up his fair share of interceptions, and also forced six fumbles with the team. His time with the team ended with a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars, where the Raiders sent him, and a fifth round pick to the Jags for the 108th overall pick in the 2010 draft.
Morrison was a solid player for the Raiders, but the best to wear No. 52 was downright elite.
Khalil Mack wreaked havoc for the Raiders wearing No. 52
While Morrison had a fantastic run with the Silver and Black, his contributions do not even come close to those of Khalil Mack. A first round selection of the team back in 2014, Mack burst onto the scene in a big way as a rookie, establishing himself as an elite player in the league, but the best was certainly yet to come.
Mack played only four seasons with the Raiders, starting all 64 games, and after being named to the All-Rookie Team in 2014, he would become a Pro Bowler in his final three seasons in the Silver and Black. In 2015, Mack did the impossible, becoming the first player in league history to be named a First Team All-Pro at two different positions.
During the team’s magical run in 2016, Mack was named the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year, as he had 11 sacks, five forced fumbles, and 14 tackles for a loss. That Raiders team went 12-4, but Derek Carr‘s injury on Christmas Eve ruined any chance they had to win a Super Bowl.
His final season with the Raiders, 2017, Mack once again racked up double-digit sacks, and made the Pro Bowl for the last time as a Raider.
Of course, Mack’s career in the Silver and Black ended way too early, as he was traded for multiple draft picks prior to the 2018 NFL season. Still one of the premier players in the game, Mack has a long career ahead of him, and like Charles Woodson, maybe he comes back and finishes his career with the franchise that drafted him.