Ten Former Raiders Among Pro Football Hall of Fame Nominees
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Over the Spring we witnessed former Las Vegas Raiders defensive tackle Richard Seymour and wide receiver Cliff Branch be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
On Tuesday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame released its list of candidates for the Class of 2023, and once again the Las Vegas Raiders are well-represented.
Ten of the 129 modern-era nominees (12.9%) spent some time representing the Silver and Black.
None more deserving is first-year eligible punter Shane Lechler.
Lechler was selected in the fifth-round of the 2000 NFL Draft out of Texas A&M. He would spend 13 seasons with the Oakland Raiders, before finishing his career with the Houston Texans.
He is the Raiders all-time leading punter, appearing in 206 games and punting for 1,014 times for 48,215 yards and averaged an NFL-career-record 47.5 yards per punt.
He also holds the Raiders franchise record for longest punt, 80 yards.
Lechler was voted to AP All-Pro First-Team six times and selected for the Pro Bowl seven times as a member of the Raiders.
He currently ranks second in the NFL for the most punting yards in a career, 68,676.
Fellow first-year eligible linebacker NaVorro Bowman also made the list.
Bowman spent one season with the Silver and Black in 2017, before retiring the following year.
The rest of the Raiders eligible to retire are:
Andre Rison (WR) 2000
Steve Wisniewski (G) 1989-2001
La'Roi Glover (DT/NT) 1996
Eric Allen (CB) 1998-2001
Terry McDaniel (CB) 1988-1997
Albert Lewis (CB) 1994-1998
Pat Swilling (LB) (also DE) 1995-1998
Justin Tuck (DE) 2014-2015
The 129 modern-era nominees included 67 offensive players, 50 defensive players and 12 special teams players. The list of modern-era nominees will be reduced to 25 semifinalists in November and 15 finalists in early January.
The 15 finalists will be trimmed to 10 and then five during the selection meeting early next year. The final five candidates will need to get 80% of the votes from the panel to get into the Hall.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2023 will be revealed during NFL Honors ahead of Super Bowl 57 (LVII) and will be enshrined in August of 2023.
The Raiders currently have 30 Hall of Famers in Canton, and are looking to add a few more this year; the Chicago Bears have the most members in the HOF (34).
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