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Las Vegas Raiders - Best Number One Pick for Every Team in NFL Draft History
You talk about a team moving around, the Oakland Raiders now in Las Vegas, got started in Oakland, moved to Los Angeles, back to Oakland before setting in the desert lands of Nevada. If not for the Pittsburgh Steelers dynasty teams of the 1970s the Raiders would have been the AFC’s dominant team during that period. The Steelers and Raiders did not like each other and their rivalry was brutal with the Raiders fielding some of the most vicious players in history. With their very first pick ever in a draft, the Raiders hit a home run by selecting Jim Otto from the University of Miami (FL). Otto would become by most opinions the best center in the history of the NFL. The next year Roman Gabriel was drafted number one but he would make his mark with the Los Angeles Rams years later. It was three-for-three in 1967 as Gene Upshaw was made number one for Oakland with the 17th pick overall and he would become a cornerstone of the Raiders’ offensive line and one of the best in his era. The Raiders would build a team from that point forward much like Pittsburgh did and they too won Super Bowls but several times simply could not get past those Steelers. There have been some great players to don the Silver and Black but I would narrow it down to Marcus Allen, Charles Woodson, and Tim Brown with my vote cast for Woodson.
Honorable Mentions: Raymond Chester (1970), Jack Tatum (1971), Ray Guy (1973), Chester McGlockton (1992), Sebastian Janikowski (2000), Darren McFadden (2008), Khalil Mack (2014)
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