Las Vegas Raiders: 15 best first-round picks all-time
By John Buhler
28. . Center. USC Trojans, 1983. Don Mosebar. 10. player
Best first-round draft picks in Raiders history: 10. Don Mosebar
Though he was taken a pick before Dan Marino of the Miami Dolphins in the famous 1983 NFL Draft, center Don Mosebar was a great player for the Raiders in his 12-year NFL career out of USC. Then Raiders team executive Ron Wolf used the No. 26 pick on Mosebar and got a high-end starter for the next decade plus.
Mosebar would assume the starting center job in 1985 as a third year player. He also spend time as the Raiders’ starting right guard in 1984 and for a year at left tackle in 1988. His versatility and competitiveness allowed him to have a successful NFL career entirely for the Silver and Black.
Sadly, his rookie year came after the Raiders’ last Super Bowl victory. He still managed to earn Pro Bowl honors three times while the team was located in Los Angeles in 1986, 1990 and 1991. Mosebar played in 171 regular season games for the Raiders, starting in 156 of them and nine playoff games.
He would suffer an career-ending eye injury in 1995. An orbital bone fracture ultimately caused the long-time Raiders center to lose his left eye. Though he will always be known as the guy the Raiders took ahead of Marino, Mosebar was rock solid at center and a great pick nonetheless in the back-end of round one in 1983.