Meet The Most BADASS Player In NFL History
What does it truly mean to be the grittiest player in NFL history? For Jim Otto, it meant 74 surgeries, more than 20 broken noses, countless concussions, and ultimately, the loss of his leg. It meant pain that would have sidelined anyone else—and a refusal to let it define him. Otto suited up for 15 straight seasons without missing a single game. He wasn’t just tough; he was the living embodiment of football’s most unforgiving spirit.
The Underdog: Overlooked and Undrafted
Jim Otto’s NFL journey began as an underdog. Coming out of college, he stood 6’2” and weighed just 205 pounds—tiny for a center. Today, NFL centers average well over 300 pounds. Scouts took one look at Otto and decided he couldn’t survive in the trenches. He went undrafted in 1960.
But that snub became his opportunity. The brand-new American Football League was desperate for tough, hungry players willing to prove themselves. Otto fit the mold perfectly. “American Football League came in and they needed bodies and I was a body, so they drafted me,” Otto recalled.
When the Oakland Raiders called, Otto jumped at the chance to prove everyone wrong.
Early Years: Building the Raiders’ Foundation
The Raiders’ debut season was rough. They finished 6-8, a forgettable start in a league many doubted would survive. They didn’t even have a permanent home, bouncing between San Francisco’s Kezar Stadium and Candlestick Park before settling in Oakland. In 1961, things got uglier: a 2-12 finish, dead last in the league, with coaching changes and endless roster turnover.
Yet, one constant remained: Jim Otto. From the very first game in Raiders history, Otto was the starting center, providing toughness to a shaky new team. He wasn’t built like a monster, so he played like one. Otto treated every snap as combat. The AFL was raw and chaotic—defensive linemen threw punches, clawed at face masks, and delivered late hits with no fear of penalties. Otto lost nearly all his teeth from being hit.
It was less organized football, more controlled mayhem. And in the middle of that chaos stood Jim Otto—undersized, outmatched on paper, but fighting tooth and nail to make sure no one ever pushed him around.
Iron Man Streak: Blood, Bruises, and Relentless Will
Despite a 1-13 record in 1962, despite his nose being busted multiple times, despite cracked ribs and countless injuries, Otto kept suiting up. He would regularly walk off the field bloodied, tape wrapped tight around his body just to hold himself together, then jog back into the huddle for the next series.
In 1963, the Raiders stopped being a punchline and started becoming a problem. That year, Al Davis took over as head coach, bringing speed, swagger, and a nasty edge that made opponents dread Sundays. In Otto, Davis had the perfect anchor—playing with broken fingers taped together, knees screaming, and a face covered in cuts and bruises.
“You could always recognize him because he was always bleeding. His nose was always cut. His fingers were always twisted,” teammates recalled.
The Rise of a Contender: Otto at the Center
Davis’s vision took shape in 1963, and Otto was at the center—literally and figuratively. The Raiders went from a struggling afterthought to a 10-4 contender, their first winning season in franchise history. For Otto, 1963 was the year the league officially took notice. But by now, his nose had been broken so many times it barely resembled what it once was. His knees started giving him trouble. Still, he kept playing.
He loved football so much he didn’t know when to give it up. “I was paid to play football, not hang out in the training room,” Otto wrote in his book, The Pain of Glory.
Playing Through Pain: The Legendary 1967 Season
In 1967, the Raiders exploded with new quarterback Daryle Lamonica, the “Mad Bomber,” slinging deep passes. The Raiders finished 13-1, the best record in the AFL, scoring a league-high 468 points—over 33 per game. Otto was now feared across the league.
But his legend wasn’t built on stats or accolades—it was built on endurance. His nose was shattered again. His ribs were bruised. His knees were deteriorating. He was held together by tape, injections, and willpower. One season, Otto cracked his ribs so badly he wrapped his torso in tape just to breathe. He developed double pneumonia, coughing blood between plays—and still didn’t miss a game.
In December 1967, it all paid off. The Raiders dismantled the Houston Oilers 40-7 in the AFL Championship, giving Oakland its first league title. That win punched their ticket to Super Bowl II, where they faced Vince Lombardi’s Packers. Otto battled through the game as always, but the Raiders were outmatched, falling 33-14.
The Consistency of Excellence: All-Star Every Year
Despite injuries and mounting toll on his body, Otto was still regarded as the premier center in the league. He became the only player in AFL history to be named an All-Star every single season of the league’s existence. In 1969, the Raiders pushed deep again, reaching the AFL Championship game. Otto was there for every snap, the heartbeat of a roster loaded with stars.
His streak of consecutive starts was still intact, even as his body begged him to stop. But Otto didn’t know how to stop. “Otto said his injuries were the battle scars of the Gladiator. The Gladiator goes until he can’t go anymore.”
Transition to the NFL: Proving He Belonged
When the AFL and NFL merged in 1970, many wondered if the flashier AFL players could hang with the established, hard-nosed NFL veterans. For Jim Otto, there was no question. He walked into the new era already scarred, stitched, and limping—but immediately proved he belonged among the NFL’s elite.
One of the nastiest moments was when Otto played with his jaw wired shut after it was shattered in a game. He couldn’t eat solid food, couldn’t talk normally, but still made every line call and every snap for the Raiders. He made the Pro Bowl in his first NFL season, sending a loud message: he wasn’t just an AFL legend—he was one of the greatest centers the game had ever seen.
Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Bobby Bell said, “Jim’s the best center I ever played against, bar none. He was a fighter, hard to keep down.”
The Double Zero: Iconic and Intimidating
Otto’s signature number—double zero—became iconic. “When you see double zeros, it’s not good at all. You want to stay as far away as you can from the double zero man.” The Raiders made deep playoff runs, often falling short of the Super Bowl, but Otto’s consistency never wavered. By the early 1970s, he was named “Mr. Raider”—the living embodiment of the franchise’s grit, toughness, and refusal to quit.
The Toll of Greatness: Surgeries, Scars, and Sacrifice
But the truth was, Otto’s body was breaking. He’d endured more than a dozen major surgeries. His knees had been sliced open and stitched back together so many times that even standing up from a chair was painful. His shoulders were barely functional, held together by scar tissue and tape. Bones had been reset, ligaments reattached, cartilage scraped away until there was almost nothing left.
Every step off the field was a reminder of how much the game had taken from him. Yet, when Sunday arrived, Otto transformed. Teammates said it was like watching a man flip a switch. “He was one of the toughest players that ever played in football. Blood and guts. He would be banged up, bleeding in the huddle, blood dripping down through his face mask.”
The Final Years: The Ultimate Standard
In 1973 and 1974, as the Raiders stayed in the playoff hunt, Otto was still the stalwart of the offense. Finally, after 15 punishing seasons, Otto walked away. He was the living embodiment of the franchise’s grit, toughness, and refusal to quit.
“I did everything against a lot of these guys to be the best I could and give them a real pain in the neck. That’s what I tried to do every time I played. I’m not the best there is, but I’ll fight anybody that thinks they’re better.”
The Price Paid: Grit Beyond the Field
Otto would undergo around 74 surgeries directly tied to football’s damage. 28 were on his knees alone. Both knees and both shoulders were replaced. His back and neck were operated on multiple times, including spinal fusions where vertebrae were bolted together. He endured 20+ broken noses, broken ribs, every finger broken, and even a jaw wired shut. His teeth were kicked in, he suffered nerve injuries that made his arms go numb, fought through double pneumonia, and still showed up on Sunday.
He absorbed countless concussions before the league even recognized them. Otto admitted he would black out, wobble back to the huddle, and still snap the ball on the next play. This wasn’t just a man who played football—this was a man who sacrificed his body and kept going.
Through 15 seasons of violence, pain, and surgeries most people couldn’t survive once, Jim Otto never missed a single start. 210 straight regular season games, plus every playoff game.
The Legacy: Comparison to Other Iron Men
When it comes to Iron Man streaks, Brett Favre played 297 straight games at quarterback, gutting through sprained ankles, broken thumbs, and countless hits. But Otto’s 210-game streak came at a position where every snap meant colliding head-on with 300-pound defensive linemen. Sure, Ronnie Lott famously amputated part of his finger to avoid missing time, but Otto had entire joints cut out and replaced, then went right back to play. Ray Lewis was feared for his ferocity, but even he never endured 74 surgeries, spinal fusions, and a leg amputation as the price of his career.
No one in NFL history absorbed more punishment, kept coming back, and redefined toughness like Jim Otto. “Pain is a state of mind,” Otto said. “I got used to it. If my nose wasn’t broken during a game, I wondered if I played hard enough. If my helmet didn’t have extra scuff marks, I wondered if I was hitting hard enough.”
Post-Career: The Price of Football
After his career, the physical toll only grew worse. Otto battled life-threatening infections from repeated surgeries, surviving three brushes with death. At one point, he went six months without a right knee joint, his leg essentially hollowed out as doctors fought to save him. In 2007, that leg was amputated above the knee after another infection. He even battled prostate cancer later in life.
Looking back, it’s easy to get lost in the numbers: 210 straight starts, 74 surgeries, 28 knee operations, three near-death experiences, and the loss of his leg. It reads like a medical report more than a football résumé. But Otto never saw it that way. To him, every scar, every surgery, every broken bone was proof he lived the game to its fullest.
In 2022, Otto told the Sacramento Bee he’d do it all over again, without regret: “That will be with me all my life. And I think that is why I would come back and do it again.”
The Standard of Excellence
Commitment to excellence, pride and poise, the greatness of the Raiders was exemplified by Jim Otto. For more than a decade, he was the standard by which centers were judged in professional football. That was Jim Otto—the grittiest player in NFL history. Double-zero, the ultimate Raider.
Conclusion: The Ultimate Raider
Jim Otto’s story is one of pain, perseverance, and pride. He redefined what it meant to be tough, what it meant to sacrifice for the team, and what it meant to be a Raider. His legacy is not just in the scars he bore, but in the standard he set for everyone who followed.
When you talk about grit, toughness, and football’s iron men, there’s only one answer: Jim Otto, the ultimate Raider.
