Las Vegas Raiders: The franchise’s all-time team
By John Buhler
Las Vegas Raiders all-time team: Tight End
It took a while, but one of the best tight ends to have ever played the game got into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2002, a full 18 years since he last played a snap in the NFL. The Raiders have had their share of great tight end talents. Dave Casper just happens to be the best of the bunch.
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Casper was a second-round pick out of Notre Dame in the 1974 NFL Draft. He would play 7.5 of his 11 NFL seasons (1974-80, 1984) for the Raiders organization. Casper would make five straight Pro Bowls from 1976 to 1980 and four straight All-Pros from 1976 to 1979.
After bouncing around with the Houston Oilers and the Minnesota Vikings in the early 1980s, Casper would rejoin the Raiders in Los Angeles for his final NFL season in 1984. In Raiders uniform, Casper would have 255 catches for 3,294 yards and 35 touchdowns. He would finish his Hall of Fame career with 378 grabs for 5,216 yards and 52 scores.
With quarterback Ken Stabler slinging him the pigskin, Casper would form an elite receiving trio with Raiders wideouts Fred Biletnikoff and Cliff Branch in the mid-1970s. The quartet thrived moving the sticks under head coach John Madden, that’s for sure.
Honorable mentions: Raymond Chester (1970-72, 1979) Todd Christensen and his incredible mustache (1979-88)