Oakland Raiders: Top 20 Draft Picks In Franchise History
By Erik Lambert
#13: Greg Townsend (110th overall, 1983)
This would be quite a fascinating trivia question for casual football fans who think they know their stuff. Who is the all-time sack leader in Oakland Raiders history? A good bet most will say it’s Howie Long. While a predictable guess for obvious reasons, they’d be wrong. That distinction belongs to Long’s teammate and fellow defensive end Greg Townsend. From the very start the franchise knew they got a good one when he arrived out of TCU in 1983. He burst onto the scene with 10.5 sacks as a rookie, helping the Raiders to their third title.
Over the course of the next 11 seasons he would become one of the best pass rushers in football. Seven times he posted double digit sacks and compiled 107.5 in total during that span, one of the 31 player ever to reach that milestone. A four-time All-Pro and two-time Pro Bowler, like most great Raiders there is general feeling that he wasn’t appreciated as much as he should’ve been outside of their own fan base.
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