The Las Vegas Raiders franchise has one of the greatest legacies of defensive stars in NFL history, and while the cornerback position is their hallmark, there have also been a ton of players up front who have had incredible careers in Oakland, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas over the last several decades.
So let’s celebrate the greatest pass rushers in Raiders history. From the nasty defensive tackles to the explosive edge rushers and the jack-of-all-trades linebackers, here are the top 10 best Raiders pass rushers of all time.
10. Darrell Russell
The No. 2 overall pick in the 1997 NFL Draft, Darrell Russell is one of several Raiders pass rushers whose star burned briefly but brightly, as he only spent six seasons in Oakland before failing repeated drug tests.
In a sense, he was the Josh Gordon of defensive players about a decade before Gordon appeared in the NFL. He was insanely talented, troubled by suspensions and drug issues, and never latched on anywhere else after leaving Oakland in 2003.
But before all that drama, Russell was a nightmare for offensive linemen and quarterbacks to contend with and looked every bit worth the No. 2 overall pick that Al Davis spent on him.
Russell made the First Team All-Pro roster in 1998 and was a Second Team All-Pro player in 1999, notching 19.5 sacks in those two seasons. He was an elite player before the suspensions completely derailed his career, and he’s a name every modern Raiders fan needs to still know.
9. Rod Martin
The heir to Ted Hendricks in that WILL linebacker spot in the Raiders defense, Rod Martin’s career overlapped with the Hall of Famer’s, as he spent about a decade from 1977 to 1988 as a member of the Los Angeles and Oakland Raiders roster.
Martin won two Super Bowls with the Raiders, unforgettably picking off the Philadelphia Eagles three times in the 1980 edition of the big game to forever etch himself in the history books.
Like Hendricks, Martin could do it all as a linebacker. He could cover running backs and tight ends, force turnovers, blow up running plays, and, goodness, could he rush the passer.
Martin reached the seven-sack threshold four times in his career and notched double-digit sacks twice. He was a Second Team All-Pro player in 1983 and then made the First Team All-Pro roster a season after that.
A captain of the clutch, Martin was also decisive in his second Super Bowl win, recording a sack of Joe Theismann and stuffing another legend of the game in John Riggins on fourth down to complete the Raiders utter domination of Washington.
8. Ben Davidson
Like Fred Williamson at the cornerback position, former Oakland Raiders defensive lineman Ben Davidson would later have a career in Hollywood, but the Raiders faithful obviously know him as a wonderful player from the 1960s era.
An AFL Champion for Oakland in 1967 and a member of three straight AFL All Star teams from 1966 to 1968, Davidson excelled as a pass rusher at both the defensive tackle and defensive end positions, becoming one of the league’s most feared villains.
Davidson made headlines for his late hits throughout his career, taking out some of the league’s biggest stars while earning criticism from journalists and opposing players for his antics. However, Raiders fans loved him for his intensity and willingness to bring that nastiness to the table for his defense.
7. Bill Pickel
Although he could play as a defensive end, Bill Pickel was primarily a defensive tackle for the Los Angeles Raiders from 1983 to 1990, and he was a wonderful pass rusher from the inside who was part of that fabled Raider defense that knocked off Joe Theismann and Washington in the 1984 Super Bowl.
A success from the moment he stepped foot in the NFL as a second-round pick out of Rutgers, Pickel had six sacks as a rookie and was a Defensive Rookie of the Year candidate.
Thereafter, he exploded, notching 12.5 sacks in his second and third NFL seasons before recording 11.5 sacks as a fourth-year pro. While he would never reach double-digits again, those were outrageous numbers for a defensive tackle, and he earned First Team All-Pro honors in the last of those seasons in 1986.
6. Chester McGlockton
Most players who total gaudy sack numbers throughout their careers come off the edge, because it is easier to get the kinds of pressures that lead to finishing plays off for sacks while off the edge.
But Chester McGlockton makes it all the way up to sixth on this list of the greatest ever Raiders pass rushers as a defensive tackle. He played for the Los Angeles and Oakland Raiders for five seasons from 1992 to 1997 earning First Team All-Pro honors in 1995, sandwiched in between appearances on the Second Team All-Pro squad in 1994 and 1996.
McGlockton never had 10 sacks in a season as a defensive tackle, but, impressively, using pure grit and guile, he came awfully close with four straight seasons of at least seven sacks from 1993 to 1996.
5. Ted Hendricks
An absolute legend of the game, Ted Hendricks won a whopping three Super Bowl titles for the Los Angeles and Oakland Raiders between 1975 and 1983, having already won his first Super Bowl crown with the Baltimore Colts to begin his career.
Hendricks was a two-time First Team All-Pro with the Raiders, coming second in the Defensive Player of the Year voting in both of those seasons, leading the league with six forced fumbles in the 1980 season – his first of four straight Pro Bowls to end his career.
It was as if Hendricks got better with age, and while he never registered 10 sacks in a single season, he was a consistent thorn in the side of offenses while coming off the edge as an outside linebacker.
That’s the thing. Nicknamed The Stork, Hendricks was an off-ball WILL linebacker and not an edge rusher like Khalil Mack, but he was so good at everything – tackling, manufacturing turnovers, and pass coverage included – that his pass rushing output throughout his Raiders career matched and exceeded players whose job it actually was to get after the quarterback primarily. He truly might be the greatest all-around hybrid linebacker of all time, even to this day.
4. Greg Townsend
The fact that Greg Townsend Sr. isn’t in the Pro Football Hall of Fame is a travesty, but what’s even more egregious than that- and what probably subtly hurts his HOF case – is the fact that he was never named to a First Team All-Pro and only made it two Pro Bowls in 1990 and 1991.
To this day, Townsend is the Raiders all-time leader in sacks on a historic franchise with at least 10 phenomenal pass rushers in history at pretty much every part of the squad.
Townsend had seven career seasons with at least 10 sacks, including four straight seasons with double-digit sacks from 1988 to 1991. He made the Second Team All-Pro in the last of those two seasons, combining for more than 25 sacks in those campaigns. And before that in 1989, Townsend led the NFL with seven forced fumbles.
A Super Bowl champion in 1984 against Washington, Townsend made the jobs of an elite cornerback duo that much easier, and while he will never make the Hall of Fame, every single Raiders fan understands he is one of the greatest pass rushers ever, only overshadowed by the fact that so many monsters have played for this great franchise.
3. Maxx Crosby
The Raiders are preparing to trade away Maxx Crosby for a king’s random this offseason, as the former Minnesota Golden Gopher has made it clear that he has no intention of playing for Tom Brady’s team in 2026.
If traded, Crosby’s departure will be just as sad as Mack’s, as he has been with the Raiders for longer. He has been a fixture for the Raiders defense in 2019, at one point giving them hope of better days while sealing five Pro Bowl nods during that time span.
Crosby has never posted fewer than 13 tackles for loss in a single season, and he’s hit double-digit sacks in four seasons. Just this past campaign on an otherwise horrendous team, Crosby set a career high with 28 tackles for loss, and he is quietly becoming one of the most disruptive two-way edge defenders in the NFL.
2. Khalil Mack
The fifth overall pick in the 2014 NFL Draft, Khalil Mack only got to play for the Oakland Raiders for four seasons, but he was one of the NFL’s most feared edge rushers during those campaigns, bringing an all-around game and a nastines to the running game that most elite edge rushers don’t.
It’s a shame the Raiders traded Mack to the Chicago Bears to usher in a rebuild, and, at the age of 34, he remains a star in the league now, having reached the playoffs as a starter for the Los Angeles Chargers in 2025.
Mack was an immediate success in the NFL, registering 16 tackles for loss and a whole lot of pressures as the sole star of the Raiders defense in 2014, and those fixated on the four sacks were missing the fact that the Buffalo grad proved that his small-school status was no indicator of his future success.
Violent, explosive, and highly intelligent, Mack then had 15 sacks in his second season and never dropped below 10 sacks or 14 tackles for loss in any of his other campaigns in Oakland before the trade. He was an absolute force of nature.
1. Howie Long
One of the greatest pass rushers and overall defensive players in NFL history, Howie Long is a Raiders icon like few others, and his iconic No. 75 in the Silver and Black remains a fan favorite across the stadium.
Long only played for the Los Angeles and Oakland Raiders in an NFL career that spanned 12 seasons from 1981 to 1993, winning a Super Bowl and sharing Defensive Player of the Year honors in 1985 when he registered 10 sacks for a third straight season and took home his second straight First Team All-Pro.
Living proof that interior pass rushers are the most devastating sources of pressure, Long was the foundational defensive piece up front of a Super Bowl winning team and a terror for offensive linemen, who could not cope with his violent hands and fabled “rip” move.
Long is one of the most explosive 3-4 defensive ends of all-time, and the successful interior pass rushers at the position over the last 15 years owe a lot to the work he put in during the 1980s.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.