The list of nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2015 is out. And among the 113 nominees, there are 11 former Raiders. Here are those players:
Rich Gannon, Tim Brown, Roger Craig, Steve Wisniewski, Greg Townsend, Ted Washington, Matt Millen, Eric Allen, Albert Lewis, Terry McDaniel, and Tom Flores
See the entire list of nominees here.
This is the second time Rich Gannon has been nominated for Hall induction. He was also nominated for the 2010 class but didn't make it out of the preliminary nominees. The 18-year NFL quarterback was a journeyman backup for most of it with a three-year stint as a starter in Minnesota, a stop in Washington, and four years as a part time starter in Kansas City.
His career didn't take off until 1998 when Jon Gruden brought him in to run his offense in Oakland and he rose to NFL prominence. He went to four Pro Bowls as a Raider and was twice named first team All Pro. In 2002 he was named league MVP and led the Raiders to the Super Bowl where they would lose to Gruden's Buccaneers.
Gannon has since gone on to a successful television and radio broadcast career. He is currently a co-anchor for CBS Sports and co-host on Sirius XM NFL radio.
For Tim Brown it's a very different story. He's been a finalist every year since he became eligible six years ago. He made it to the final cutdown last year before falling short.
Brown was a career Raider (aside from the one year in Tampa). Other players on this list to spend most, it not all of their careers with the Raiders included Steve Wisniewski, Greg Townsend, Matt Millen, and Terry McDaniel.
Tom Flores spent most of his NFL career with the Raiders as a player and returned as a coach. In total he won three Super Bowls with the Raiders, one as an assistant coach and two as head coach. He was the first Hispanic head coach in the NFL and the first minority head coach to win the Super Bowl.
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From this list, the Pro Football Hall of Fame Selection Committee will choose 25 candidates who will advance as semifinalist nominees which will be announced in late November. That semifinalist list will be further reduced to 15 Modern-Era finalists and announced in early January.
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