If you were to take all 32 NFL Franchises and create a team that features the best player at each position, in the prime of when they played, from any player that has ever played for that team, who would be the best team?
Some caveats to my thoughts:
I’m talking about the starting 22 players. We don’t need to go any further than that since we don’t need to talk about subbing or any of that nonsense
The same player can be on multiple teams. Remember, as long as that player spent time on the field for that team, they qualify. Yes that means the Niners AND the Chiefs have Joe Montana, Niners, Raiders, and Hawks all have Jerry Rice, etc.
For the sake of argument and to make this a little more challenging, and to make it more fun, let’s put all of the players in TODAY’s game with TODAY’s rules. That means that Deacon Jones CANNOT use his head-slap because that would incur a penalty. Also none of those facemask grabs that they used back in the '50s.
That last rule being said, the players know this and can play by today’s rules (they don’t have to learn them or anything) but keep this in consideration if you want to have a certain player over another
I’ll weigh in on this eventually (I want to see how the thread goes first)
Yup! So the Viking fan could ask do they want prime-of-his-career Favre (INTs and all…) or POIC Cunningham? Same with Atlanta, want Favre? Vick? Steve DeBerg?
I notice you only list players, but what about the coach? They’re the ones calling the plays and deciding the scheme, and a player that works well in one scheme might be crap at another.
Well, if we stick JUST to Hall of Famers, the Packers have Hall of Famers at 15 positions:
Coach: Vince Lombardi
QB: Bart Starr (Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers may be better)
RB: Paul Hornung
RB: Jim Taylor
WR: Don Hutson
Center: Jim Ringo
Guard: Forrest Gregg
DT: Henry Jordan
DT: Cal Hubbard
DE: Reggie White
DE: Willie Davis
ILB: Ray Nitschke
OLB: Dave Robinson
Free Safety: Willie Wood
Strong safety: Emlen Tunnell
Cornerback: Herb Adderley
Offense:
C – Jay Hilgenberg
G – Stan Jones
G – Tom Thayer (when in doubt, pick someone from the ‘85 team)
OT – Joe Stydahar
OT – Jimbo Covert
WR – Brandon Marshall
WR – Alshon Jeffrey
TE – Mike Ditka
RB – Walter Payton
QB – Jim McMahon (this was a tough call. Sid Luckman is the consensus best Bears’ QB, but in the modern game, I doubt he could compete with Cutler or the punky QB. Jim McMahon’s main problems were staying healthy – his performance was quite good as long as he was on the field, so I say give him a shot)
I guess for the final OFF position, we’ll go with Marcus Robinson as a 3rd WR
Defense:
DE – Richard Dent
DE – Julius Peppers
DT – Tommy Harris (his peak was ever so brief but he was a monster)
DT – Dan Hampton
LB – Dick Butkus
LB – Mike Singletary
LB – Brian Urlacher
CB – Charles Tillman
CB – Donnell Woolford (but keep an eye on Jennings and Fuller, those guys are good)
SS – Mike Brown
FS – Gary Fencik
Special Teams:
K – Kevin Butler
KR/PR – Devin Hester
Nice team. One change I’d make for sure is on that 11th offensive player. I’d figure out a way to scheme with two RB’s and add Gale Sayers. I’d probably go with Luckman at QB, but really, with a backfield featuring Payton and Sayers who cares who the QB is?
The Baltimore Ravens don’t have a lot of history to work with, but they’re better than I expected them to be.
QB: Steve McNair
RB: Jamal Lewis, with Priest Holmes as a change of pace back
WR: Steve Smith, Anquan Boldin, Derrick Mason
TE: Shannon Sharpe, Todd Heap
OT: Jonathon Ogden, Orlando Brown
G: Marshall Yanda, Edwin Mulitalo
C: Matt Birk
DT: Kelly Gregg, Haloti Ngata
DE: Rob Burnett, Michael McCrary
MLB: Ray Lewis
OLB: Terrell Suggs, Peter Boulware
CB: Deion Sanders, Chris McAllister
S: Ed Reed, Rod Woodson
PR: Jermaine Lewis
KR: Jacoby Jones
K: Matt Stover
P: Kyle Richardson
There are a lot of players who had their best years with other teams (McNair, Sharpe, all three wideouts), and a few who made the team by default (e.g. Heap, Mulitalo). The right side of the o-line (Brown and Mulitalo) is pretty shaky, but the defense is awfully strong. Not a bad lineup for a team that’s been around less than 20 years.