Oakland Raiders: Top 20 Draft Picks In Franchise History

#3:  Art Shell (80th overall, 1968)

Modern fans just don’t understand how hard it was to play offensive tackle in the NFL back in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Back then, players weren’t even allowed to use their hands.  They had to block with their forearms.  Naturally this led to an era in pro football that was dominated by defense and flattened quarterbacks.  One had to be a special kind of player to pass protect well, let alone great.  That’s why Art Shell continues to get overlooked as one of the great tackles ever.

Not only a dominant run blocker who overpowered opponents, he was the lynch pin to keeping Raiders quarterbacks on their feet through the glory years of the 1970s and early 1980s when the team won two of its three Super Bowl titles.  From the beginning of his career across a span of 11 seasons he did not miss a single game.  His eight Pro Bowls and Hall of Fame induction proof he was among the all-time greats, even when the rules weren’t slanted his way.

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