The GOAT of the Raiders' franchise, Jim Otto, died a couple of weeks ago. He's unquestionably the greatest center in NFL history and he played every single game for the first 15 years of Raiders history.
He's not as well known as he ought to be although his jersey number "00" is iconic.
It got me thinking about the most impactful people in our team's history. Going with the Mt. Rushmore gimmick, here are the four most important Raiders of all-time.
Al DavisAl Davis
Al Davis is the Raiders, as much as one man can be. He rose from head coach and general manager of the team to the majority owner (which is wild!). He's probably the most important owner in NFL history, because of his role in merging the AFL and NFL, as well as being a trailblazer in team relocations and hiring minorities for important roles.
Many of the famous phrases associated with the Raiders - "Just win baby!", "Commitment to excellence", "Once a Raider, always a Raider" - originated with Davis.
John MaddenJohn Madden
The most famous figure in NFL history was also the youngest coach to win a Super Bowl, which was also the Raiders first. His coaching career was relatively short, but he holds the best winning percentage ever for an NFL head coach.
Jim OttoJim Otto
The ten time All-Pro 1st Team center is the only player other than Jerry Rice to have accomplished that feat. Unlike Rice, Otto went undrafted by the NFL, which is why he was available to play in the newly founded AFL.
Technically he was drafted by the Raiders, after being passed over by the entirety of the NFL, so he might not count as an undrafted player. However, he still has a claim as being the greatest player ever who wasn't taken in the NFL draft.
Kenny "The Snake" StablerKenny "The Snake" Stabler
The near mythological status of Ken Stabler can hardly be overstated. He was the central figure of sseveral of the most iconic moments in NFL history: The Holy Roller, Sea of Hands, Ghost to the Post. Seldom thought of as the best QB in the league, he struck fear into the hearts of rival fans like no other player from that era.
The Snake embodied the Raiders motto "Just Win Baby!"
Your Mt. RushmoreYour Mt. Rushmore
Who's on your team's Mt. Rushmore?
Dante Culpepper :)
@Public_N_M_E, is this true?
why are you asking him?
He's a Vikings fan, who might have some thoughts on the matter.
Ooooo Dante is an interesting shout. But he was before my time as a Vikings fan.
For the vikings I would want.... Offensive Rushmore.
Justin Jefferson
Randy Moss
Chris Carter
Adrian Peterson.
Defensive Rushmore. Danielle Hunter, Alan Page, Harrison Smith, Jared Allen.
For the top Rushmore Vikings, this is tough.
Alan Page
Randy Moss
Adrian Peterson
Harrison Smith
Hitman absolutely deserves his place there.
Moss over Carter is interesting to me. I guess when you had the most sensational receiver ever he has to make the cut, even if he didn't stay very long.
I ummed and ahhhd over that one for a long while... Ish... But Moss changed the way the game was played. Just like Jefferson is. Carter is a legend and full respect to him but it's a coin flip between him and moss and coin landed on moss this time.
That makes sense to me. When I think about those teams, it's definitely Moss who comes to mind. I also think of Moss primarily as a Viking and he's definitely the more iconic player in league history.
Wait, are @Public_N_M_E from minnesota?
I'm not no. I just became a Vikings fan after playing fantasy football with some friends, I knew nothing about the sport back then. But I just really liked the vikings as a team. So I started to back them. And then... Then I started to see players social media at timberwolves games so I started checking in a little to that and sort of following the timberwolves. Now I just understand the continued heartbreak of a Minnesota sports fan 😔.
But no I'm not from MN, I'm not even from the US. I'm one of His Majesty's Finest Great Britons! 💂🇬🇧💂🇬🇧
You are a Briton?
I thought you would say her majesty's, but I guess that has changed.
Which part of the UK are you from? Or Canada?
The Vikings are a grounded team. I like certain individuals from it. Allen was very good and quite a character.
Adrian Peterson...what a legend.
Wish he had stayed and just played with the Vik.
AP had lost a step and we'd drafted Dalvin. I think he knew his time in MN was over 😔 but I kinda wished he'd retired rather than jumped around never really doing much with other teams. He had an alright run with Washington for a hot second, but that fizzled out as quick as it started.
Yeah, he kept getting injured.
I don't think he'd make it on mine but it's a good shout.
Oh my. Every time I think I am out. They pull me back in.
Here I thought I was going to spend less time on SN this week and now I need to spend hours pondering this. Haha.
I guess I should do football since that's what you started with. Although baseball or basketball would be easier for me. Maybe another time.
Let me give it some thought and I will come back to this post this afternoon.
Man, for baseball it has to be Ichiro!
Are you a Mariners fan?
I haven't followed baseball in a long time, but that's who I rooted for as a kid.
Griffey, A-Rod, The Big Unit, and Ichiro make for a pretty solid Mt. Rushmore.
I was an Ichiro fan.
I liked when he played for the Yankees, Mariners, Marlins, and Mariners again.
Do all three. It's only twelve names (assuming no dups).
When I was a kid I watched the famous "Heidi Bowl". My dad and I screamed at the TV. Even though I was a Jets fan, I loved 00. I also remember him in the AFC playoff game in late 1968. It was on tape delay TV in New York. My parents made me go to sleep and then they woke me up for the 11pm start.
It's been awhile, but our teams had quite the rivalry back in the day. Maybe, they'll both be relevant again at some point.
What's up with Rodgers' injury? Are you going to get more than four snaps out of him this year?
I doubt it. The whole idea was stupid to begin with. Hey, how about Jack Tatum? That was one tough hombre.
It's so hard to leave him off.
Despite not having the accolades of many other Raiders, I probably would put him in our top 5. He's right up there with Stabler, when I think about who embodies whatever it is to be a Raider.
I am choosing to do players only with an honourable mention to top coach/front office person for each team. They don't get a face but are added to the plaque visitors read.
49ers
Joe Montana
Jerry Rice
Patrick Willis
Ronnie Lott
Honourable mention to Bill Walsh (coach)
Raptors
Vince Carter
Kyle Lowry
Kawhi Leonard (this is tough because only one season but he has to be there)
Chris Bosh
Honourable mention Masai Ujiri (GM, Pres)
Blue Jays
Roberto Alomar
Roy Halladay
Jose Bautista
Dave Steib
Honourable mention Paul Beeston (GM, Pres)
I would replace Bosh with DeRozan on that Raptors roster. Just a personal opinion, I rank DeRozan higher than Bosh on my all time great Raptor list. I almost didn't want to put Kawhi on there, but he did bring us the chip, and that is something.
I respect that. I thought about that but I decided on Bosh because he was the guy during his era with the Raptors whereas Derozan was a duo with Lowry and I already selected Lowry. But I don’t think you can go wrong.
Patrick Willis over Bill Walsh surprised me.
I think Kawhi might actually be remembered primarily as a Raptor. It's a more extreme version of the conversation I was having with Public about Randy Moss.
I didn't want to take Lott and not Willis and I wanted both offensive and defensive players on my mount so I had to leave the coach out for the purpose of balance.
A raiders mt Rushmore and no Maxx Crosby??!!!???!! 🤯🤯😱😱😱😱 Tbf, who are you taking off that list to put him on.
I expect Maxx to be up there eventually, but he's got a ways to go and they need to win something with him and because of him.
I expect Maxx to get lost to history sadly. I think the only way Crosby gets recognised properly is if the raiders win a bowl or he leaves the raiders and goes somewhere with better media coverage. Like the new York coverage is insane, everyone's talking about Thib as the second coming. (Respect, he's damned good) But I think Maxx is going to get lost behind names from this era like JJ and TJ Watt for example. Just like Danielle unfortunately (I love that dude, he's mah boy) but unless he wins a bowl, he's not going to get the time of day from the national media.
If the Raiders become good, they'll get lots of coverage. It's a huge fanbase and the media would love to cover them more, if they could justify it.
I do agree that he needs to really breakthrough, though. If he doesn't win multiple DPOY's (which he should) or a Super Bowl MVP, then he might only be remembered by Raider Nation, as a guy who never got the recognition that he deserved.
Raider nation and the fantasy community. He's been a staple piece of my IDP team for years. I have no intention of letting him go. He's so good it's almost insulting how little recognition he gets. He absolutely terrorises Tackles and even gets Mahomes Rattled 🤣🤣
Islanders
Al Arbour
Billy Smith
Brian Trottier
Denis (Beat Your Wife) Potvin
Vancouver Canucks
Henrik Sedin
Daniel Sedin
(Can we put just 1 Sedin face and say we got both up there, since they look the same anyways?)
Trevor Linden
Roberto Luongo
Honorable mention:
Pavel Bure
Markus Naslund
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