9. Jack Tatum
If your nickname is “The Assassin,” odds are you were a tough, hard-hitting player- enter Jack Tatum. Tatum was the meanest defensive back of his day on a Raiders team that was one of the meanest, nastiest teams of the 1970s.
Tatum was drafted in 1971, and was one of the key components of the AFC’s most bitter rivalry of the decade between Oakland and the Pittsburgh Steelers. A more notorious moment was when Tatum violently tackled Steelers receiver Lynn Swann and caused him to miss the rest of the game. This was not an uncommon occurrence. Several Raiders felt that Swann was soft and targeted him often.
While today, some say Tatum was a dirty player, he was talented. He was named a Pro Bowler for the first time in 1973, and repeated the feat in ‘74 and ‘75. Tatum was ruthless. If you didn’t have a silver helmet on your head, his goal was to knock it off. He was brutal, and he was one of the best players on a Raiders defense that helped Oakland win a Super Bowl. While he isn’t in the Hall of Fame, he is remembered as one of the best, and most iconic, Raiders of all time.
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