We hit 29 in our Raiders countdown to kickoff. Who wore it best and who's wearing it now
No. 29
Who's wearing it now: S Chris Smith II
The former Raiders fifth round pick is entering his third season with the team. He has spent his first two seasons primarily as a special teams player and is hoping to break through to see more time on defense this season. He is currently in the mix to replace the injured Lonnie Johnson Jr over the first month of the season. And if he performs well, he could see increased playing time after that as well.
Who wore it best: CB Albert Lewis
Lewis joined the Raiders in 1994 at the age of 34. He had already had a full 11-year career with the Chiefs at that point including going to four Pro Bowls. But he wasn't nearly done. He was a full time starter for five seasons for the Raiders, retiring following the 1998 season at the age of 39. He was still productive all the way to the his final season, putting up two interceptions and returning one for a touchdown.
Honorable Mention: RB Michael Bush
The Louisville product was a nice find for the Raiders in the fourth round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He put up 2641 yards and 21 touchdowns in four seasons in Oakland. His best season came in 2011 when he put up 1395 yards from scrimmage with eight touchdowns. But unfortunately the Raiders through Darren McFadden was the future and let Bush leave in free agency. In the three seasons after Bush left, McFadden never approached the numbers Bush put up in that 2011 season.
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Yahoo
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Raiders star Crosby calls Chiefs' Mahomes the ultimate competitor, a big reason for his success
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Fox Sports
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Why Tom Brady is Right to Feel Patrick Mahomes is Only QB Who Resembles Him
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"So Patrick Mahomes, to me, is the one that does that the most often because who he is, obviously his physical talent, how he understands what he needs to do offensively, and he brings a consistent winning attitude to work every single day. In the biggest moments you can depend on him the most. That's clear." ADVERTISEMENT Even though Mahomes is the league's most decorated active quarterback, Brady's implied statement that the Kansas City Chiefs star is on a tier of his own might surprise some. Statistically, he had the worst season of his seven seasons as a starter in 2024 (3,928 passing yards, 26 passing touchdowns, 11 interceptions, 93.5 passer rating). As a result, Mahomes' status as the consensus top quarterback seems to be in question. In fact, he was the fourth-highest-ranked quarterback in "Madden NFL 26," trailing Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson and Joe Burrow. However, Mahomes has beaten all three quarterbacks in the AFC Championship Game in each of the last three seasons. That's just part of the reason why "First Things First's" Nick Wright agrees with Brady that the Chiefs quarterback is the one who most resembles the seven-time Super Bowl champ, believing that he's also a great individual player when stacking Mahomes against each of those three quarterbacks. "Patrick is first or second in NFL history in every postseason stat and not just in wins, which he's second," Wright said. "One of the contenders, Lamar, his bugaboo is that his production plummets in the playoffs compared to his regular season numbers. In that regard, the most important part, he's out. Joe Burrow, if Patrick ever went back-to-back years with peak Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce and it's like, 'You know what, just couldn't overcome the bad defense. We missed the playoffs.' But Burrow has missed the playoffs in back-to-back years with Tee Higgins and Ja'Marr Chase. 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A year later, Jackson made a similar mistake, throwing an interception in the end zone with the Ravens trailing by 10 to the Chiefs in a game they eventually lost, 17-10. This past season, Allen and the Bills had the ball while trailing 32-29 in the final minutes before turning the ball over on downs. Burrow has beaten Mahomes in the past, taking him down in the 2021 AFC Championship Game. However, he was unable to win the Super Bowl two weeks later. Without that, Brady indicated that it'd be hard to place Burrow, Jackson and Allen on the same tier as Mahomes. "There's other guys that are still developing, and they need to prove it before, in my mind, I can say, 'Oh yeah, he's done it.' Well, obviously, he hasn't done it yet," Brady said. "They've all shown flashes of amazing things. They're all great players. All of them can make tremendous plays. "At some point, they need to take the next step and take, in my mind, more ownership of what they're doing, in terms of the organizational level, to do more things to empower more people, to get more people on that train or that bus with you to head in the direction you want to go." Adding to his last point, Brady recalled how his approach to the game ultimately led to his unprecedented success on the field. Now that he's retired, he'd like to see more quarterbacks do the same, and if they do, maybe they can be placed on the same level as Mahomes. "The quarterback, in many ways, is the CEO of the team," Brady said. "Certainly, on game day, there's nobody that impacts the game more than the quarterback in NFL football. Now, you have to have the ability and the belief from the entire team, offensively and defensively, that your word means so much. And how you act every day matters to all three phases of the game. 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The Patriots are ranked the fourth-most valuable franchise in NFL
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