Tim Brown

When the Raiders came home to Oakland in 1995, a lot of the names on the roster were new to the Coliseum crowd. Tim Brown wasn't. He was already the best player on the team, already a Pro Bowler, and for the next nine years he was the guy every kid in the East Bay wanted on the back of his jersey. Number 81. Mr. Raider.

He was born July 22, 1966, in Dallas, and went to Woodrow Wilson High, the same school that produced 1938 Heisman winner Davey O'Brien. His mother wouldn't let him play football as a freshman, so he played in the band. He joined the team as a sophomore and tried to hide it from her until the band director called the house asking where he'd been. Woodrow went 4 and 25 and 1 in his three years as a starter, and he still had his pick of the big college programs.

He chose Notre Dame and became Touchdown Timmy. He set a school record with 1,937 all purpose yards as a junior, and in 1987 he became the first wide receiver ever to win the Heisman Trophy. He left South Bend with 19 school records, including 5,024 all purpose yards.

The Los Angeles Raiders took him sixth overall in the 1988 draft, and the very first time he touched the ball in the NFL, against San Diego at the L.A. Coliseum, he returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown. As a rookie he led the league in kickoff returns and return yards and set an NFL rookie record with 2,317 combined yards. He went to the Pro Bowl as a return man.

Then the opener of 1989 took it all away with a season ending injury. He came back in 1990 mostly as a punt returner and caught only 103 passes over the next three years combined. In 1993 he finally got the ball as a receiver and broke out with 80 catches for 1,180 yards, and that started a run nobody had seen before: nine straight 1,000 yard seasons from 1993 to 2001, and 10 straight years with at least 75 catches.

In March 1994 Denver signed him to an offer sheet as a free agent, and the Raiders matched it. A year later the franchise moved back to Oakland, and Brown came with it. In 1997 he caught 104 passes for 1,408 yards, tied for the league lead in catches, set a team record with seven 100 yard games, and became the Raiders' career receiving leader. He was named to the NFL's 1990s All Decade Team.

In 2001 the Raiders added Jerry Rice and suddenly Oakland had two of the best receivers in history on the same field. That December he returned a punt 88 yards for a touchdown against Kansas City at 35, the oldest player in league history to score on a punt return. In 2002 he passed Gene Upshaw for the most games ever played as a Raider, and the team went to Super Bowl XXXVII, the only championship game of his career.

It ended badly. The Raiders released him before the 2004 season because he didn't want a smaller role, and he signed with Jon Gruden in Tampa Bay. His relationship with Al Davis had always been complicated, and the exit made it worse. But in Week 3 that year, on a Sunday night at the Coliseum, he caught his 100th career touchdown pass against the Raiders and the Oakland crowd gave him a standing ovation.

He signed a one day contract in 2005 so he could retire as a Raider. He finished with 1,094 catches, 14,934 receiving yards and 100 receiving touchdowns, plus 3,320 punt return yards, and 105 total touchdowns. He was the only player ever to retire in the top five for both receiving yards and return yards.

The Hall of Fame made him wait. He was eligible in 2010 and was a finalist in 2012 and 2013 before finally getting the call in 2015. He was inducted in Canton on August 8, 2015, presented by his brother Donald Kelly, and he opened his speech by leading the Raider Nation in a RAIDERS chant.

Brown's career started with a touchdown on his first touch and ended with a touchdown in front of the Oakland crowd that loved him. In between he was the one guy every defense had to plan for. As Fred Biletnikoff put it, for almost his entire career as a starter he was the one guy opponents had to worry about, and nobody ever really stopped him.

Look at the consistency. Ten straight seasons with at least 75 catches, an NFL record, nine straight 1,000 yard seasons, and 176 consecutive starts at receiver, another record. He was durable, he was smart, and when Rich Gannon arrived he found a receiver who learned the whole playbook on Wednesday morning and lined up everybody else.

And he did it all while returning punts. He had 3,272 punt return yards as a Raider, a team record, and he scored on a punt return at 35. Very few receivers who catch 1,000 passes are also back there fielding kicks. Tim Brown was.