The Las Vegas Raiders franchise, be it in Sin City, Los Angeles, or Oakland, stems from the trailblazing, renegade exploits of Al Davis. Davis coached the team between 1963 and 1965 before moving into the ownership realm from 1967 until his death in 2011.
In that time, the Raiders cultivated an image as NFL badboys, winning with intimidation and violence. With three Super Bowls in the trophy case, Davis' management style seems to have worked.
These are the 25 best players who suited up for the Raiders between 1963 and Al's passing in 2011. Note that their placement is decided only by what they did with the Raiders.
25 best Raiders of the Al Davis era
Honorable Mentions: Terry McDaniel, Mark van Eeghen, Wayne Hawkins, Hewritt Dixon, Phil Villapiano, George Atkinson, Jim Plunkett, Jack Tatum
25. Rod Martin
One-third of one of the greatest linebacker rooms ever, alongside Matt Millen and Hall of Famer Ted Hendricks, Martin's famous three-interception game against Ron Jaworski and the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XV was the defining moment of his career. Martin is a lifelong Raider who spent all of his 12 seasons in Oakland and Los Angeles.
Martin has been unofficially credited with 56.5 sacks in addition to 14 regular season interceptions. With Martin being able to get after quarterbacks and deliver some big hits to opposing running backs and step up in big games, Martin remains one of the more underrated and underappreciated players at any position in the 1980s.
24. Nnamdi Asomugha
While many modern fans will remember Asomugha for his ill-fated Philadelphia Eagles stint, there was a three-year period where Darrelle Revis may have been the only cornerback in the entire NFL who was better than him. On some lackluster Raiders teams, Asomugha was their biggest game-changer on the defensive side of the ball.
The Cal alum and first-round pick was named an All-Pro four times in five years (including two First Team nods) between 2006 and his departure in 2010. Asomugha, who picked off 11 passes in eight seasons, was regarded as one of the stickiest man-coverage corners of his day. Oddly enough, Asomugha has found a second career as a Primetime Emmy-nominate actor.
23. Shane Lechler
Only the Raiders can lay claim to having not just the best punter ever, but the second-best as well. Lechler punted in Oakland for 13 of his 18 professional seasons, and in five of those campaigns, he led the NFL in yards per punt. His 51.1 yards per punt in 2009 makes for one of the best specialist seasons ever.
Lechler was named a First Team All-Pro six times with Oakland and a Second Team All-Pro three more times. While he punted in a completely different era than Guy, Lechler has the superior stats, and there's an argument to be made that he exceeded what Guy brought to his position.
22. Clem Daniels
Daniels may not have the gaudiest numbers for his career (5,138 yards, 30 touchdowns) as a starting running back. However, when Daniels retired, he was the all-time AFL leader in rushing yards at the time. For a four-year stretch, Daniels' numbers are as good as any player in the AFL at his position.
Between 1963 and 1966 (when Davis served as head coach), Daniels was named an AFL All-Star, the league's Pro Bowl equivalent, four times. Twice he was First Team All-AFL. After extrapolating his averaged from 1963-1966 to a 17-game pace, Daniels would have been on pace for 1,885 yards from scrimmage and 11 touchdowns.
21. Dave Grayson
In 10 seasons, Grayson was an AFL All-Star six times and First Team All-AFL four times. Even though some of his success came on the first few Kansas City Chiefs teams, Grayson put up some of the best seasons of his career in Oakland right before Davis moved to the ownership room.
Grayson was a First Team All-AFL three times in six years, getting time at both safety and cornerback during his tenure. Grayson may be someone who eventually sneaks into the Hall of Fame finalist discussion if his career is examined with more of a critical lens.
20. Todd Christensen
It could be easily argued that Christensen was the best receiving tight end of the 1980s. In his prime, Christensen had a four-season stretch that would not have looked out of place on the back of Travis Kelce or Rob Gronkowski's trading cards in a pass-happy league, and those numbers came with Marc Wilson under center.
Christensen was 13 yards shy of amassing four straight 1,000-yard season, catching at least 80 passes and hitting at least six touchdowns in all of those campaigns. Considering that Christensen broke into the NFL as a fullback, the position conversion may have been one of the smartest moves in Raiders history.
19. Lester Hayes
Hayes may have gotten an assist due to his Stickum usage, but he was one of the best corners in the game at his peak. Very few defensive backs have a Defensive Player of the Year Award sitting at home in the trophy case, and Hayes rode a remarkable 1980 season to that very prestigious accolade. Hayes finished with 39 interceptions in just 10 seasons.
Hayes made five straight Pro Bowl teams, made the Hall of Fame's 1980s All-Decade Team, and was a member of two Raiders championship teams in a four-year span. If Canton wants to take a longer look at Grayson, why not give Hayes some run as well? Adhesive glue or no adhesive glue, Hayes was a ballhawk like few others.
18. Daryle Lamonica
Lamonica is one of the great winners at the quarterback position, as he holds a 66-16-6 career record and a three-season stint in which he went 36-4-1 overseeing the Raiders. You don't earn a nickname like "The Mad Bomber" without being a sublime deep ball passer, and Lamonica helped usher in Davis' penchant for explosive vertical passing games.
With the Raiders, Lamonica was a Pro Bowler or AFL All-Star four times and a First Team All-Pro or All-AFL twice, throwing for over 16,000 yards and 148 touchdowns in Silver and Black. Lamonica could have been an all-time player if he didn't spend four years as a backup with the Buffalo Bills before the Raiders grabbed him.
17. Cliff Branch
Branch is one of the fastest players who ever played in the NFL, and that same verticality that made Lamonica one of the best quarterbacks of his era helped Branch develop quite the chemistry with Ken Stabler. Branch was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2022, which was long overdue for a key member of those terrific Raiders teams.
Branch was a Pro Bowler and First Team All-Pro three years in a row, tallying two seasons with over 1,000 yards and 11 touchdowns despite a 14-game schedule and an offense that didn't throw the ball 40 times every game. Branch's speed made him a viable weapon until well into the Los Angeles years in his late 30s, and defensive backs still share campfire stories of how spooky it was to guard him.
16. Rich Gannon
Gannon's career as a stopgap starter and veteran backup came to an end in Oakland, as he hit his stride and finished with an MVP, top-four MVP finish, and Super Bowl appearance during his six seasons in the Black Hole. In 2002, at age 37, Gannon's 4,689 yard showing was nothing short of masterful.
The Super Bowl performance was downright rotten, and the seasons after that game didn't go so well, but an MVP is an MVP, and that can't be discounted. Gannon's peak was perhaps the greatest single season a Raiders quarterback has ever had, and even other elites at the time had to bend the knee.
15. Fred Biletnikoff
Biletnikoff's career numbers may not be too eye-popping (only one season with more than 1,000 yards), but it seems like every catch he made in his career was in a clutch situation to help the Raiders beat a strong opponent. With three touchdowns in a Super Bowl win over the Vikings, Biletnikoff's value was proven.
A two-time All-Pro and six-time Pro Bowler, Biletnikoff was a slow receiver who got every ounce of talent out of his frame. With some of the best hands in history, not only did he make for the perfect stylistic contrast with Branch and Warren Wells, but he became Stabler's go-to target whenever a play had to be made.
14. Steve Wisniewski
Wisniewski is the definition of an ironman, as he missed just two starts over a 13-year career. He flies under the radar a bit due to how his career was sandwiched in between a pair of Super Bowl teams, but his career achievements are so mind-bending that it makes his exclusion from Canton almost inexcusable.
Making eight Pro Bowls and two First Team All-Pros is impressive enough, but what really took him over the top is the fact that he was a Second-Team All-Pro six times. For most of his career, Wisniewski was a top-five guard in football, and anyone who tried to handle him one on one would not say those accolades are phony.
13. Ray Guy
Guy is the only primary punter who has been enshrined in Canton, and with how he utterly dominated the position for 14 seasons, no one would have a problem with him breaking the proverbial seal. Guy led the league in yards per punt three times while making seven Pro Bowls and four All-Pro teams.
Guy also punted for three Raiders Super Bowl champions in both Oakland and Los Angeles, meaning that his booming kicks came within the context of winning games. Until someone comes to knock him off his perch, Guy has the title of best punter in Raiders history.
12. Ken Stabler
The Raiders' famous No. 12 gets the top spot on this list. While he was prone to some untimely interceptions, perhaps a mirror image of the fast-living cavalier lifestyle he led off the field, there is no one that Raiders fans or any fan of 1970s football would have rather wanted with the ball in his hands late in the game than Snake.
Stabler has an MVP (and a third-place finish) under his belt and twice led the league in touchdown passes. Even against some equally legendary Steelers and Dolphins teams in the 1970s, Stabler constantly found a way to dig deep and pull out era-defining wins. In his Raiders career, Stabler would finish with just over 19,000 passing yards and 150 touchdown passes.
11. Mike Haynes
Haynes is a certified legend for two franchises, as the first half of his career was spent as the dominant defensive force for the New England Patriots. Haynes was astonishingly a Second Team All-Pro six times in seven years with New England, and he finally got the pub he deserved with the Raiders after a midseason trade.
Haynes got his career started by forming perhaps the greatest cornerback duo ever with Lester Hayes on the 1983 championship squad, and he followed that with consecutive First Team All-Pro seasons in '84 and '85. Haynes would pick off 18 passes in seven years with the Raiders, making the Hall of Fame's All-Decade team for the 1980s alongside Hayes.
10. Charles Woodson
Woodson is a tough evaluation, as his best individual seasons came with the Green Bay Packers. Even looking just at what he did with the Raiders, and only what he did when Davis was the owner, the former Heisman Trophy winner was very clearly one of the best in the business from the jump in the NFL.
In his first stop with the Raiders, which is the only time he overlapped with Davis, Woodson was a Pro Bowler four times, a First Team All-Pro once, and Defensive Rookie of the Year. Even eschewing his late-career accolades upon his return, Woodson made good on his potential as one of the safest slam-dunk selections in NFL Draft history.
9. Ted Hendricks
Hendricks had some terrific years in Baltimore, so much so that it's not unreasonable to say that his Colts career is right on par with his Oakland tenure. The Mad Stork was an excellent linebacker well into his mid 30s, earning two of his four career First Team All-Pro nods with the Raiders.
In nine seasons with Oakland, Hendricks tallied 42 sacks and 10 interceptions. The Raiders' legendarily tough and ferocious defenses had Hendricks and his unusual No. 83 number at the heart of it all, and that level of impact and consistency is worthy of a spot in the top 10.
8. Howie Long
Perhaps the greatest pure Los Angeles Raider ever, Long started to come into his own in the 1980s with a workman-like approach to the game that made him a consistently feared pass rusher and run defender on the outside. Long has been unofficially credited with 91.5 sacks in his 13-year career with the Raiders.
In an 11-year span, Long was named a Pro Bowler eight times. A deserving Hall of Famer who was inducted in 2000, Long set the standard for two-way ends throughout his career. Until Maxx Crosby came around, no one in Silver and Black has been able to be put in the same discussions.
7. Dave Casper
The man they called "Ghost" shares some similarities with teammates earlier on this list. What Casper lacked in statistical dominance he made up for with clutch playmaking and a collection of accolades that put him among the best tight ends in football history. Casper waiting until 2002 to become a Hall of Famer was a sin.
Casper was a Pro Bowler five times in parts of eight seasons as a Raider, making four First Team All-Pro squads in a row between 1976 and 1979. Casper was without question the best tight end of the late 1970s, and that excellence was awarded with a spot on the 1970s All-Decade Team.
6. Art Shell
Shell became a pioneer after retirement, as he became the second Black head coach in NFL history (and the first since 1925) and led the Raiders to a few playoff appearances. On the field, it's not unreasonable for Shell to claim the title of best offensive tackle in Raiders history, as his pass protection was nothing short of exemplary.
Shell, an ironman who went almost a decade in between missed starts, made seven straight Pro Bowls and four All-Pro teams between 1972 and 1978. Shell's play would land him spots on the 1970s All-Decade team and the league's 100th Anniversary All-Time Team, which solidifies his status as one of the best to ever do it.
5. Tim Brown
Look up "underrated wide receiver" in the proverbial football dictionary, and there's a picture of a silver-and-black No. 81 streaking down the field for a long touchdown. Brown made nine Pro Bowls in his 16 years with the Raiders, and his career stats are right up there with other players who Brown is not commonly thought of as being in the same tier.
Brown ranks seventh in career receiving yards with over 14,000 to his name, ahead of greats like Marvin Harrison, Cris Carter, and Julio Jones. Brown's longevity is impressive, as he reeled off nine straight seasons with at least 1,000 yards and was a solid starter well into his 30s. Considering the quarterback play he often received, those numbers are even more impressive.
4. Marcus Allen
Had Davis not had some sort of strange beef with the former USC star and split carries with Bo Jackson, Allen may have had the numbers to be No. 1 on this list. Despite those shortcomings, Allen was third in career rushing touchdowns until Derrick Henry recently passed him, and most of those scores came with the Raiders.
Even ignoring the second act in Kansas City, Allen had five Pro Bowls, an Offensive Player of the Year (and runner-up finish), and an MVP in 1983 to his name. In 11 seasons, Allen's career totals of over 12,000 yards from scrimmage and 97 touchdowns are wonderful, and they would have been even better if the end of his career wasn't so odd.
3. Gene Upshaw
That's right, the Raiders had three of their six best players in a four-decade span on the same offensive line right next to one another. Upshaw, who became a influential force in the NFL for decades due to his work for the player's union, was as powerful and mauling a left guard as there was in the pros for the better part of two decades.
Upshaw would be named a Pro Bowler seven times and All-Pro eight times (five First Team selections) while never missing a start between 1967 and 1980. Upshaw is one of the best run blockers who ever lived despite not being the biggest lineman ever, and those Raiders teams would not have been able to gut out so many tough wins without Highway 63 on the left side.
2. Willie Brown
Brown is the best defensive player in Raiders history, as his smothering style of playing cornerback not only made him an era-defining padlock on the outside, but also helped inspire a generation of players who came after. After a solid start in Denver, Brown went from very good to great to immortal with the Raiders over 12 seasons.
Over that span, Brown amassed 39 interceptions and six All-Pro teams (four First Team) while pioneering the "bump-n-run" style of coverage that NFL teams really didn't have an answer for until he retired. Brown was one of the best corners in the game deep into his 30s, as talent that shines that brightly doesn't simply fade with age.
And remember readers, Mother's Day is right around the corner.
1. Jim Otto
Otto is not only the greatest Raider ever based on statistical achievement, but looking at his career makes it increasingly hard to say he is not the greatest center who ever played in the NFL. Despite fighting through 74 surgeries in his career, Otto never missed one of his 210 starts in a football career that boggles the mind.
Otto not only has 12 Pro Bowls/AFL All-Stars to his name, but also 10 First Team All-Pro/All-AFL nominations. That is tied with Jerry Rice for the most nods for any player at any position in NFL history, and Rice had five extra seasons to pile up those nominations. The famous No. 00 was consistent, violent, and excellent; the epitome of what it means to be a Raider.
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