Who is going to protect Rich Gannon’s blindside?
We’re moving onto the trenches in Silver and Black Pride’s Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders 2000s All Quarter Century Team, starting with the most important position on the offensive line, left tackle. Since Rich Gannon won S&BP’s quarterback poll, we’ll be seeing if Barry Sims, Donald Penn or Kolton Miller will protect Gannon’s blindside for this hypothetical squad.
For clarity, just like how the NFL does its All-Pro and Pro Bowl teams, we will have one left tackle and one right tackle rather than having two tackle spots. So, unlike our wide receiver poll, the two losers here will not get a second chance and will be left off the team. Keep that in mind as you cast your vote, and that makes your vote even more important!
Barry Sims
Photo by Robert B. Stanton/NFLPhotoLibrary
Raiders Stats (2000-2007): 120 games, 109 starts
Accolades: none
Sims has already spent time protecting Gannon, as they were both part of the 1999 free-agent class during Jon Gruden’s first stint as head coach. That also means Sims was an integral piece of the highly successful Raiders’ offenses in the early 2000s, including the Super Bowl XXXVII squad. Additionally, he won the organization’s ‘Commitment to Excellence’ award in 2004 and proved to be reliable, missing just eight games in nine years with the Raiders.
Donald Penn
Photo by Larry French/Getty Images
Raiders Stats: 66 games, 66 starts (5 seasons), 3 receptions, 7 yards, 2 TDs
Accolades: 2x Pro Bowl (2016-2017)
After spending the first seven years of his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Penn headed to Oakland in 2014. He was a consistent blindside protector for Derek Carr and anchored one of the franchise’s best offensive lines over the last 25 years in 2016. That campaign was also the best performance of Penn’s career, finishing with the second-highest Pro Football Focus grade (90.0) among offensive tackles. That led to the first of his two Pro Bowl selections with the Silver and Black. Despite playing with the Buccaneers longer, Penn opted to sign a one-day contract to retire as a Raider in 2021.
Kolton Miller
Photo by Candice Ward/Getty Images
Raiders Stats: 109 games, 107 starts (7 seasons)
Accolades: none
Coincidentally, Miller ended up being Penn’s replacement, getting selected in the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft. In 2021, the UCLA product ended a run where the franchise hadn’t signed a first-round pick to a second contract since Darren McFadden inked a one-year deal in 2014. The Raiders selected seven players on the first day of the draft between McFadden and Miller. While the current longest tenured Raider hasn’t made a Pro Bowl or All-Pro team yet, he’s consistently been one of the league’s biggest snubs over the last four seasons. He’s managed to post PFF grades in the low-to-mid-80s in each of the last four campaigns.
So, which offensive lineman are you going with for the left tackle spot on the Raiders’ 2000s All-Quarter Century Team?
Vote in the poll below and sound off in the comments section with your reasoning. If you don’t have a commenting account already, you’ll need to create one but the steps are pretty easy and it’s a seamless process. Also, we have full-time moderators to enforce the Community Guidelines. Sign up and go to the comments section.