A few really good options here
The cornerbacks are up on the Oakland/Las Vegas Raiders 2000s All-Quarter Century Team, and this could be a tight vote since the Raiders have had a few good corners over the last 25 years. Your initial nominees are: Charles Woodson (2000-2005), Eric Allen and Nnamdi Asomugha.
For clarity, since the focus here is on cornerbacks and the 2000s, we’ll be sticking to Woodson’s third through sixth seasons with the Raiders. He’ll be the one player to get nominated at two positions since he was a safety during his second stint in Oakland.
Also, we’ll be doing three cornerback polls (we’re rolling with nickel personnel on the All-Quarter Century Team), so the two losers here will have two more chances to earn a spot.
Charles Woodson
Raiders Stats (2000-2005): 11 INTs, 49 PDs, 12 FFs, 344 tackles, 12 TFLs, 5.5 sacks (74 games, 6 seasons)
Accolades: 2x Pro Bowl (2000, 2001), 2nd-Team All-Pro (2000), Hall of Fame (2021)
The 1998 No. 4 overall pick is one of the best draft picks in Raiders’ history as he’s widely considered one of the franchise’s best defenders. Woodson’s career got off to a hot start with four straight Pro Bowl appearances, including two in this century. He was a key contributor on the Silver and Black’s three consecutive playoff teams from 2000 to 2002, adding an interception, eight passes defended and 39 tackles in the postseason to the stat line above.
Eric Allen
Raiders Stats (2000-2001): 7 INTs (3 TDs), 23 PDs, 2 FFs, 1 FRTD, 123 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack (32 games, 2 seasons)
Accolades: Hall of Fame (2025)
While Allen only spent a couple of years with the Raiders in the 2000s, he turned in two impressive campaigns. He led the NFL in pick-sixes with three in 2000, a franchise single-season record, and returned a fumble to the house the following year, collecting four touchdowns as a defensive player. Like Woodson, Allen was also a key factor in Oakland’s playoff teams at the turn of the century, picking up another interception and six more PDs in four postseason games.
Nnamdi Asomugha
Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images
Raiders Stats: 11 INTs (1 TD), 61 PDs, 2 FFs, 311 tackles, 18 TFLs, 2 sacks (122 games, 8 seasons)
Accolades: 3x Pro Bowl (2008-2010), 2x 2nd-Team All-Pro (2006, 2009), 2x 1st-Team All-Pro (2008, 2010)
In a way, the football gods were cruel to Asomugha since he was drafted by a team that was coming off a Super Bowl appearance, but the Raiders never finished above .500 during his eight seasons in Oakland. Also, he might be the best player in NFL history to have never played in a playoff game. Individually, the four-time All-Pro had a great run with the Silver and Black, though. He was both a ballhawk and shutdown corner, as he recorded eight interceptions in ‘06 and quarterbacks openly admitted to not even looking his way after that campaign. In fact, Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning famously introduced Asomugha to his father, Archie, as “the best cornerback in the game” during the ’08/’09 Pro Bowl. Additionally, the Cal product currently ranks second in franchise history for passes defended*.
*PDs didn’t become an official NFL statistic until 1999.
So, which defensive back are you going with for the first cornerback 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.