Let the arguing begin: RJ unveils Raiders’ All-Quarter Century team
Derek Carr or Rich Gannon at quarterback? Does Jerry Porter’s longevity with the Raiders trump Jerry Rice’s shorter stint?
Those were some of the decisions facing Review-Journal Vegas Nation writers Vincent Bonsignore and Adam Hill as they compiled the Raiders’ All-Quarter Century team.
There were definitely some tough calls, starting at the most important position.
Do the longevity and franchise records set by Carr beat out the two spectacular seasons and team success of Gannon?
At receiver, the Raiders had some star players in the past 25 years. Yet the leader in receiving yards was Jerry Porter.
Are those raw numbers more important than the Hall of Fame players who did only a small part of their work for the Raiders from 2000 to 2024? Such as Tim Brown, who was with the team from 1988 to 2003, but only gets credit for the final four seasons for the purposes of this list.
That’s why the decisions were so difficult and why readers will have strong opinions on where we went wrong. We welcome your input.
Here’s what we came up with. Disagreements between Bonsignore and Hill are noted.
Quarterback
Rich Gannon
The Super Bowl run puts Gannon ahead of Carr even with far fewer years and without the records.
Running back
Josh Jacobs
An easy choice. He’s third on the team’s all-time rushing list and the only one of the top six who played this century.
Wide receiver
Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, Davante Adams (Hill)
Brown, Porter, Adams (Bonsignore)
This was by far the toughest call in terms of quality of candidates. Rice had two 1,000-yard seasons for the Raiders, but Porter had the longevity. Randy Moss’ two seasons weren’t quite enough to get him on either ballot.
Tight end
Darren Waller
It might take one more outstanding season to get Brock Bowers to take over this spot, though his outstanding rookie season made this a tougher call than expected.
Offensive line
Kolton Miller, Lincoln Kennedy, Gabe Jackson, Steve Wisniewski, Rodney Hudson (Hill)
Miller, Wisniewski, Hudson, Mo Collins, Kennedy (Bonsignore)
Wisniewski over Robert Gallery was a surprisingly tough call, only because the vast majority of Wisniewski’s career was during the 1990s. He did have two good years during this century, including an All-Pro season in 2000. Jackson and Collins are also tight.
Defensive line
Maxx Crosby, Richard Seymour, Warren Sapp, Khalil Mack (Hill)
Crosby, Darrell Russell, Seymour, Mack (Bonsignore)
An interesting debate emerged after the three obvious choices. Bonsignore goes with the raw talent of Russell, whose best days were behind him by the turn of the century but who had some production before his career was derailed by multiple suspensions. Hill gave the nod to Sapp, who did not make a Pro Bowl in any of his four late-career seasons in Oakland.
Linebacker
Kirk Morrison, Thomas Howard, Greg Biekert (Hill)
Morrison, Bill Romanowski, Biekert (Bonsignore)
Maybe the toughest spot considering the lack of standouts in the past 20 years. Only Biekert’s final two years qualify, so he might be getting the nod on name value, but there’s not much competition. Romanowski was a shell of himself by the time he played two seasons with the Raiders. Howard had five productive seasons with the Raiders, including a six-interception campaign in 2007 and 110 tackles in 2006.
Cornerback
Nnamdi Asomugha, Eric Allen
The only question among the defensive backs was whether to put Charles Woodson at cornerback or safety. Only two of Allen’s seasons qualify at the end of his career, but he is a Hall of Famer.
Safety
Rod Woodson, Charles Woodson
Reggie Nelson probably would have sneaked onto this list had Charles Woodson been placed at cornerback over Allen.
Kicker
Sebastian Janikowski (Hill)
Daniel Carlson (Bonsignore)
This is a far better debate than it might appear on the surface. Janikowski had the longevity, but Carlson (87.5 percent) has been far more accurate on field goals in a Raiders uniform.
But Janikowski had to take half his kicks off the awful field in Oakland and was nailing 55-yard field goals during a time when that wasn’t the norm in the NFL. He was a game-changer.
Punter
Shane Lechler
AJ Cole is No. 2 all time in career yards per punt in NFL history, but he misses out on this spot because Lechler was just that good. He was named first-team All-Pro in six of his 13 years with the Raiders.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X. Contact Vincent Bonsignore at vbonsignore@reviewjournal.com. Follow @VinnyBonsignore on X.
