The decade is coming to an end. It hasn’t been a great one for the “Team of the Decades.” They made the playoffs just once with that also being their one winning season and they didn’t win any playoff games. The franchise’s sixth decade was easily its worst.
In that regard, you’re likely to wonder how some of the names who made the franchise’s all-decade team made it here. And honestly in some cases, it was the lesser of the evils. In other cases, it took some digging to find the reasons for a player to make the team. But some players would have made this team no matter who they played for. There just weren’t enough of those to cobble together a team that could sustain success.
With that said, here is my Raiders 2010-2019 All-Decade team
Quarterback: Derek Carr
2nd team: Carson Palmer
Carr was an easy choice here. He was the Raiders quarterback for six of the ten seasons this decade, and remaining the starting QB in Oakland for that long allowed him to become the franchise all-time leading passer. He made three Pro Bowls and surpassed 4000 yards just once.
Running back: Latavius Murray
2nd team: Darren McFadden
There wasn’t a lot to choose from for this one. Murray went over 1000 yards in his second season in Oakland. As a rookie, he didn’t get his shot until week 11 and his monster game propelled the Raiders to their first win of the season. The following season he went over 1000 yards. His third season, he put up 12 touchdowns, which was the most by any back in a single season this decade.
Fullback: Marcel Reece
2nd team: Jamize Olawale
For a few years there, Reece was the only surefire Pro Bowler the Raiders had. He made three in a row from 2012 to 2014 and was described simply as a weapon.
Wide receivers: Amari Cooper, Michael Crabtree
2nd team: Rod Streater, Seth Roberts
Cooper and Crabtree were easy choices. No other receivers in the past ten years have come close to the numbers they put up in their three years together in 2015, 16, and 17. In the team’s one winning season in 2016, they both went over 1000 yards. And, yes, Seth Roberts is on the second team. Fight me.
Tight end: Jared Cook
2nd team: Lee Smith
Cook was the best tight end the Raiders had since Zach Miller. Cook was the Raiders leading receiver in both of his seasons with the team, heading to the Pro Bowl in 2018 with 896 yards. Gotta give Lee Smith a shout out for his blocking prowess.
Tackles: LT Donald Penn. RT Khalif Barnes
2nd team: Jared Veldheer, Trent Brown
Left tackle was actually in pretty good hands for most of the decade. First with Jared Veldheer and then Donald Penn. The Raiders got a stroke of luck when the Buccaneers stupidly released Penn. They had just let Veldheer sign with the Cardinals as a free agent and Penn stepped right in and went to a couple Pro Bowls. And for as much crap as Khalif Barnes took, he was one of the steadiest presences on the Raiders Oline for years and certainly their best right tackle. The man signed seven one-year deals with the team and played a good bit of guard too when he was asked.
Guards: Kelechi Osemele, Gabe Jackson
2nd team: Cooper Carlisle, Mike Brisiel
Osemele was an All-Pro for the Raiders and Gabe Jackson has held down one of the guard spots for the team the past six years.
Center: Rodney Hudson
2nd team: Stefen Wisniewski
Hudson is not only the best center of the decade, but he is flat out one of the best Raiders players at any position. He just got named to his third Pro Bowl, and honestly it should be his fifth or sixth.
Defensive tackles: Richard Seymour, Tommy Kelly
2nd team: Desmond Bryant, Justin Ellis
In Seymour’s second season in Oakland, he was moved to defensive tackle and returned to the Pro Bowl. He made it two straight Pro Bowls the next season. He had 18.5 sacks in four seasons with the Raiders, the final four seasons of a Hall of Fame-caliber career.
Kelly was a mainstay on the Raiders defensive line for nine years. He put up 14.5 combined sacks in 2010 and 2011. Kelly was a quintessential 3-tech and one of the best teammates you could ask for. Entering the league in 2004, he may actually be worthy of a couple all-decade Raiders teams.
Defensive ends: Khalil Mack, Lamarr Houston
2nd team: Denico Autry, Matt Shaughnessy
The only tough decision with regard to Khalil Mack was whether to put him on the All-decade team at both defensive end and linebacker. After all, he was the only player in NFL history to be named All-Pro at two different positions in the same season.
In the end, I went with just defensive end. He is easily the best player at any position for the Raiders this decade. It’s a shame he’s playing in Chicago now after the Raiders traded him away rather than pay him his worth. Interestingly enough, when the Raiders didn’t re-sign Lamarr Houston, he too went to Chicago. The same year they drafted Mack. It would have been cool to have seen Houston and Mack play together on the Raiders Dline.
Linebackers: OLB Kamerion Wimbley, OLB Bruce Irvin, ILB NaVorro Bowman
2nd team: Tahir Whitehead, Malcolm Smith, Perry Riley
Oof, This was a tough position to pick from. Simply because the Raiders have been so very bad at linebacker for so long. Wimbley was the one easy choice. He put up 16.0 sacks in two seasons with the Raiders before getting a fat paycheck from the Titans. He was the ultimate strong side backer. Irvin liked to say he was glad when he was finally moved back to DE, but he did his best work at outside linebacker, putting up 15.0 sacks his first two seasons in Oakland.
Bowman spent a grand total of ten games with the Raiders. But in that time, he put up a team-leading 89 tackles and no Raider this decade played the middle linebacker spot better. Keep in mind they wasted the first three years of the decade on Rolando McClain. And there was no way that cancer was making this team.
Cornerbacks: Nnamdi Asomugha, Stanford Routt
2nd team: David Amerson, TJ Carrie
Asomugha played just one season this decade. But he was named All-Pro that season. It was his last with the Raiders before he was given the cold shoulder by Al Davis. Stanford Routt played the first two seasons of the decade, putting up 6 interceptions and 28 passes defended. Amerson got a lot of grief from Raiders fans, but he was a pass breakup machine with 41 passes defended and 6 interceptions in his first two seasons in Oakland.
Safeties: FS Charles Woodson, SS Tyvon Branch
2nd team: Michael Huff, Karl Joseph
CWood with a bullet. He returned to Oakland in 2013 and stuck around for three seasons. Even in his late 30s, he was the most dominant defensive back on the team. He retired in 2015 and two weeks ago lit the Al Davis torch in the final Raiders game ever in Oakland. Next stop: Hall of Fame.
Branch spent seven seasons with the Raiders. His last two seasons with the Raiders ended early with just five combined games played due to injury. Before that, he was a stalwart at the strong safety position for four seasons.
Kicker: Sebastian Janikowski
2nd team: Daniel Carlson
Janikowski all day. Had an injury not knocked him out of the 2017 season, he may have been the only kicker the Raiders had FOR TWO ENTIRE DECADES! He was their first-round pick in 2000 and missed just three games through 2016. He became the franchise all-time leading scorer years ago.
Punter: Marquette King
2nd team: Shane Lechler
I know what you’re thinking. How could King actually be first-team over Lechler? Well, Lechler left after the 2012 season to live out his dream of playing for his hometown Texans.
After that, King put up some royal punting numbers for five seasons in Oakland before his weirdness got him run out of town. But before that, he was regularly one of the best in the league. Lechler owned the first decade, and I mean for the NFL, not just for the Raiders. All in all, what a run of punting greatness amirite?
Return specialist: Jacoby Ford
2nd team: Dwayne Harris
Remember the season Jacoby Ford 3 kicks for touchdowns? That was 2010, just inside the decade. The following season he returned one touchdown while averaging 31 yards per return. Harris gets a tip of the cap for what he did last season first with the savvy step out of bounds to put the ball at the 40 and second for his 99-yard punt return for the touchdown. If he hadn’t been hurt this year, he might have made a run at the first team.
Special teamer: Taiwan Jones
2nd team: Erik Harris
Jones stuck around the Raiders for six years, mostly for his special teams prowess as a gunner and return man. He twice led the team in special teams tackles, and no player had more special teams tackles this decade for the Raiders than his 45. He also had a forced fumble and 3 fumble recoveries.
