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Oakland Raiders' Top-10 First-Round Draft Picks

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:17 p.m. ET

Fansided, Carl Cockerham/FanSided via With the First Pick

Dec 24, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders free safety Charles Woodson (24) reacts after playing his final home game during an NFL football game against the San Diego Chargers at O.co Coliseum. The Raiders defeated the Chargers 23-20 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Al Davis managed botched a lot of his 1st-round picks for the Oakland Raiders. But he did get some right and when he did, he really got them right.

Oakland Raiders legendary owner Al Davis did things like no other. Many complained about the way he drafted toward the end of his life but he never did draft that well. He was good at finding steals in the late rounds but he wasn’t good in the first round.

From 1966, when he really took over until his death in 2011, he’s only hit on 13 1st-round picks. But he didn’t build through the draft, he collected a band of renegades that didn’t work out with other teams. He went without a 1st-round pick via trade six times too.

Of the 22 Raiders players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, 13 of them were drafted by other teams. And of the nine he drafted, four of them were picked in the first round. When he did hit in the first round, it was usually a pretty big hit.

And I’ve taken 10 of them and ranked them on what they did for the Raiders. Individual accomplishments and how it contributed to wins with the Raiders only count. An NFL record with another team isn’t how a pick works out for the Raiders

Turn the page for a look!

Nnamdi Asomugha

But Davis saw a big, long press corner that could disrupt receivers’ routes all day. It took a few years but in 2006, he arrived with eight interceptions to scare opposing quarterbacks way. He would then become the least thrown at corner in the NFL.

He had a run from 2006-2011 that he was the best corner in the game, shutting receivers down. Unfortunately, Asomugha was the only player worth the admission price of a Raiders game at the time. He played during the worst era of Raider football.

In his nine years with the Raiders, he was on seven double-digit loss teams and two 8-8 teams. So while he made All-Pro twice and went to three Pro Bowls, he never saw the playoffs. He was a great player that couldn’t make a difference because the rest of the team as so bad.

Chester McGlockton

He was the kind of nose tackle that NFL scouts and GMs are still looking for today. Watching opposing teams try to run at him looked so hopeless, it was comical. But not only was he dominant against the run, he could also put heat on opposing quarterbacks.

In his six dominant years with the Raiders, he had 39.5 sacks, good enough for No. 5 in Raiders history. McGlockton made all four of his Pro Bowls and his one All-Pro with the Raiders too. Unfortunately, the Raiders failed to put enough around him to contend during his time with them..

But he was the type of player you could and still can build around with his freakish abilities. If he were still with the team in his prime during the 2001 and 2002 seasons, history might be different. But he was another dominant player that didn’t get anywhere with the Raiders.

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Don Mosebar

In 1983 the greatest NFL Draft ever, the Raiders took offensive tackle Don Mosebar. That draft was so good, they missed on Dan Marino and still got a great player. When he got to the Raiders, Davis moved to one of the guard positions.

Then eventually, as Dalby got older, Mosebar took center spot and ran with it. And by his second year at the position, the made one of his three Pro Bowls. He anchored one of the best offensive lines in football with the Raiders until 1994.

The Raiders had a winning season in six of his 11 years as the Raiders starting center. They had some great offenses and made some deep playoff runs too. Davis showed the NFL back then that a man that’s 6’6″ can play center.

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Steve Wisniewksi

He was there in the Bo Jackson era, when he would rush for darn-near 1,000 yards in eight games. At 6’4″, 305 pounds, he was huge for a man coming up when he did. He was a tower of power and very athletic for his size to go with it.

Wisniewski spent 13 years with the Raiders, six in Los Angeles and seven in Oakland. He played in the AFC Championship Game against the Buffalo Bills, where they lost 51-3. And he called it quits after the “Tuck Rule Game” in Foxboro.

He was selected to the Pro Bowl eight times and made All-Pro twice. Wisniewski was everything you wanted a 1st-round pick to be for his 13 years. And you can put him in there with the rest of the Raiders’ legendary offensive linemen.

Aug 4, 1984; San Francisco, CA, USA: FILE PHOTO; Los Angeles Raiders punter Ray Guy (8) in action against the San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park during a pre-season game. Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY Sports

Ray Guy

He was a quarterback in high school and college and had a big arm to throw the ball down the field. Guy played the scout team quarterback when the Raiders played against Dan Fouts and the San Diego Chargers. The Raiders also trusted him to be the team’s emergency quarterback.

When needed, they called on Guy to throw some passes out of fake punt situations. Guy could also run if the team needed to but he was special as a punter. He’s the reason we pay attention to hangtime, not just distance and his accuracy often had opponents near their own goalline.

And if the opposing punt returner got away from the coverage unit, he could make the tackle. Guy is now the No. 2 punter in Raiders history and made seven Pro Bowls and three All Pros. He punted for all three of the Super Bowl Winning teams is the first punter in the history inducted into the Hall of Fame.

November 1, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders free safety Charles Woodson (24) intercepts the football intended for New York Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall (15) during the second quarter at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Charles Woodson

He was also clutch, strip-sacking New England Patriots QB Tom Brady in the 2001 playoffs to put the game away. But the “Tuck Rule”, the rule the game was named after, gave the Patriots the ball back and you know the rest. Woodson’s first eight of 18 years in the NFL were with the Raiders, with four Pro Bowls and one All-Pro,

Then he went to the Green Bay Packers, where he made four more Pro Bowls and two more All-Pros. He also won a Super Bowl and NFL Defensive Player of the Year over there. And in an emotional decision, he came back to Raider Nation and reinvented himself as a safety.

He then got the franchise going in the right direction and made the Pro Bowl in his last year. Woodson is the only man in NFL history that has 60 interceptions and 20 sacks to his credit, And 27 of his interceptions have him at No. 8 in franchise history to decorate him as a Raider.

Jack Tatum: "The Assassin" was one of the most feared hitters in NFL history, paralyzing New England Patriots receiver Daryl Stingley with a vicious shot in at 1978 preseason game. That hit, like many of the former Raider's other high shots that knocked opponents of games, was legal at the time but probably wouldn't be today.

Jack Tatum

One of Tatum’s hits had a hand in creating the Pittsburgh Steelers dynasty in a named game in the playoffs. It was the “Immaculate Reception”, where he hit John Fuqua so hard, the ball went flying. I won’t talk about the rest but like Woodson, Tatum made a great play and it was to the other team’s benefit.

He eventually won one of those battles with the Steelers and the Super Bowl in 1976 against the Minnesota Vikings. And in that game, he hit receiver Sammy White so hard, his helmet went flying. The “Assassin” as they called him, surprisingly didn’t make an All-Pro team but made three Pro Bowls.

And he’s tied with fellow “Soul Patrol” secondary member George Atkinson for No. 5 all-time in team INTs with 30. The rules have changed so we will never see a man play the way Tatum played again. No one embodied that tough, intimidating Raider image anymore than Tatum did.

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Tim Brown

He also ran well after the catch so when the speed was gone, he still had a lot of offer. Early in his career Brown was on that team that was massacred 51-3 in the AFC Championship Game in 1991. Then he finally gets to the Super Bowl in 2002 and gets killed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 48-21.

But Brown had a great individual career as a receiver and briefly as a return man. He was No. 2 to only Jerry Rice when he retired but Brown is now No. 6 in all-time in NFL receiving yards. And of course, with the Raiders, he’s No. 1 all-time with 14,734 yards and receiving TDs with a 99 of them.

Shockingly, Brown was never selected to the All-Pro team but he made nine Pro Bowls. His commitment to excellence is something that won’t be forgotten by Raiders fans for years to come. It won’t be forgotten by the NFL either as he finally got his long-overdue induction into the Hall of Fame.

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Gene Upshaw

Many laughed at first when Davis took Upshaw and moved him to guard. But it is no coincidence that the Raiders beat the Chiefs on the way to Super Bowl II his rookie year. They would go on to lose to the Green Bay Packers, who had a dynasty at that time.

Upshaw then had to deal with the Steelers dynasty that kept the Raiders out of the Super Bowl in the ’70s. However, he helped the Raiders break through and put a break in the dynasty in 1976. He also helped end the dynasty in 1980 as the Raiders beat the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl.

Upshaw played all 15 of his years in the NFL for the Raiders, making seven Pro Bowls and five All-Pros. And of course, a career like that could only end with his bust in the Hall of Fame. When you look for the greatest, most dominant guards in history, Upshaw’s name is in there. .

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Marcus Allen

Allen was obviously a great runner with great vision, too many moves and burst. He was also a great blocker, lining up at fullback at times and knocked out a defensive lineman. He also had great hands and ran excellent routes so he lined up at receiver too.

Allen was a high school quarterback and Howie Long once said, “He could throw the ball better than our quarterbacks. He put all of those talents on display right away, winning NFL Rookie of the Year. Then his second year, he carried the Raiders to a Superbowl win as the Super Bowl MVP.

Then in 1985, he broke the record for total yards for scrimmage and won NFL MVP. Allen is No. 1 in rushing, No. 1 in yards from scrimmage, No. 2 in touchdowns and No. 6 in scoring in franchise history. He also made All-Pro twice and the Pro Bowl five times while with the Raiders.

I’m not going to talk about Davis’ vendetta against Allen that wasted 5-6 years of his career. But as it is, he’s No. 7 in yards from scrimmage, No. 13 in rushing and No. 6 in touchdowns in NFL history. And he’s only the man to win Rookie of the Year, NFL MVP, Super Bowl MVP and Comeback Player of the Year.

I don’t even have to tell you he’s in the Hall of Fame after all that!