Bo Jackson and the case of what if?
Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series acquainting fans with the Raiders’ illustrious 60-year history as the team moves to Las Vegas for the 2020 season.
At 6 feet 1 inch tall and 227 pounds, Bo Jackson ran a 4.13 40-yard dash before the 1986 NFL draft. And over his four-year career with the Raiders, he averaged a whopping 5.4 yards per carry.
The running back, however, never once ran for more than 1,000 yards in a season, never played more than 11 games in any given year and never exceeded more than 173 carries.
Arguably the greatest athlete of the last half-century, Jackson’s Raiders career and sports career left us wishing for more, even though he provided enough memorable moments to last a lifetime.
His career — which spanned the NFL and Major League Baseball — provided fleeting moments when an argument could be made he was the best player in both sports.
The what if that lingers had Jackson devoted himself to just one sport.
Maybe all because the Tampa Bay Buccaneers either innocently or intentionally didn’t do their due diligence with the NCAA before bringing Jackson to their team facility for a predraft visit before the 1986 draft. That visit violated NCAA rules and cost Jackson the remainder of his last college baseball season at Auburn. 
Jackson, believing the meeting was set up deliberately in the Buccaneers’ efforts to get Jackson to drop baseball to play football full time, vowed not to sign with them if they drafted him with the first overall pick. Tampa Bay called his bluff and drafted him anyway. Jackson, remaining true to his word, didn’t even consider the Buccaneers’ contract offer in favor of signing with MLB’s Kansas City Royals, who drafted Jackson in the fourth round.
The Raiders, sensing an opportunity, used a seventh-round pick on Jackson in the following year’s draft and came to an agreement with Jackson that allowed him to join the Raiders at the conclusion of the baseball season. It essentially meant Jackson playing half seasons for the Raiders.
That explains his rushing totals. When he did play, he was mesmerizing.
That includes the then record-breaking 221-yard rushing performance against the Seattle Seahawks, made more famous by the “Monday Night Football” setting and how he ran through Seahawks linebacker Brian Bosworth on his way to a touchdown.
Or how he somehow made the Pro Bowl in 1990 despite playing just 10 games or how he broke off touchdown runs of 91, 92, and 88 yards in his short Raiders’ career.
The 1990 season, one of his best, helped get the Raiders to the playoffs with a 12-4 record. Unfortunately, it would also set up the career-ending hip injury he suffered in a playoff game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Jackson had 77 yards on six carries before going down with the injury, providing yet another what if had he remained healthy.
Jackson’s Raiders career was over and he finished with 2,782 yards on 515 carries with 16 touchdowns.
The hip injury also would affect Jackson’s baseball career, which continued over the next four seasons. But he was never quite the same. The two seasons before the hip injury Jackson seemed to be hitting his baseball stride with a combined 60 home runs and 183 RBI.
It has meant decades of what ifs for one of the greatest athletes of all time.
But plenty of memories remain for the only man to play in a Major League All-Star Game and an NFL Pro Bowl.
Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore onTwitter
