Because I like to muse on this stuff (first string only I’m afraid):
QB Joe Montana
RB Barry Sanders
FB Marion Motley
WR Jerry Rice
WR Don Hutson
TE Rob Gronkowski
C Kevin Mawae
OG Jim Parker
OG John Hannah
OT Anthony Munoz
OT Forrest Gregg
DE Deacon Jones
DE Reggie White
DT Joe Greene
DT Warren Sapp
MLB Dick Butkus
OLB Lawrence Taylor
LB Junior Seau
CB Charles Woodson
CB Rod Woodson
SS Troy Polamalu
FS Ronnie Lott
P Ray Guy
K Adam Vinatieri
Coach Vince Lombardi
Some of these were harder than others. In choosing a quarterback, I’m afraid that I more or less went with the choice that I hated less than the alternatives. There is no denying the success that Tom Brady has had with the Patriots over the last 18 seasons, but geez, I hate that guy. Ditto Elway. I was a Favre fan for a while, but it was always something with that guy, too. I flirted with the idea of Johnny Unitas, but it’s tough to translate the quarterback position from his era to everything that has happened since. Aaron Rogers, Drew Brees, and Dan Marino were powerhouses at the position, but they don’t have the championship success that I would like to see in a dream team quarterback. So I went with Montana, which probably wouldn’t get much argument. Not the most athletic guy in the world, but he did everything he needed to do. Another day, I might go with Peyton Manning or Roger Staubach. Hard to say; so many greats at the position. Crazy how the ultimate team game seems to hinge on one player so often.
Beyond that, the slot I agonized over the most was fullback. Jim Brown is the obvious choice, but the guy hated to pass block. How can a dream team have a fullback who hates to pass block? I could move him to running back as Fred Zimmerman did on one of his dream teams, but I cannot leave Barry Sanders off this squad. (Walter Payton makes that choice a little tough, too, but Sweetness always annoyed me just a bit as well. It’s hard to explain. Regardless, it’s difficult to argue that Sanders was not the best RB who ever played.) My heart said to go with Bronko Nagurski at fullback, but the more I looked at Motley, the more convinced I was. I had no idea that his average yards per carry were more than Brown’s, for example, and Motley DID love to block. He basically had Nagurski’s skill set, but he was better. It’s tough leaving Brown off, but there you have it.
The rest weren’t too tough. I realize that the receiver position has radically changed since Hutson’s day, but he was so far ahead of the game for so long that I cannot leave him off in good conscience. I cannot overstate what an overwhelming athlete Jim Parker was, especially for his time. Munoz was far and away the best lineman of the era I watched the most, and Forrest Gregg is my tribute to the Packer dynasty (and obviously a hell of a player). Center has never been a glamour position, but Mawae was arguably better longer than anyone of the last 30 years; good as Mike Webster was, I don’t think he did what Mawae did with the position. I don’t think I need to say much about Hannah, Gronk, and Rice.
I saw a sabermetric-type analysis a while back that claimed Butkus and Ray Guy weren’t really even elite players. However, if you think I’m going to war without Butkus, you’re nuts. I’m more malleable about Ray Guy. A lot of people slot Sammy Baugh as a tip of the hat, and I’d love to drop Jim Thorpe in here on a lark (and he WAS a hell of a kicker), but Guy revolutionized the position, and picking someone else seems…weird. If you want to go with Shane Lechler or somebody, I can’t really argue with that.
I’m not a Reggie White fan at all, but he towers over everyone of his era. If anything, Deacon Jones was even more dominant. Greene is a little less dominant, but, like Butkus, I’m not going to war without that guy. I’m a bit more ambivalent on Sapp (my enduring image of the guy is still him rolling onto his back after a pancake in the Orange Bowl – go Huskers!), but he did more things well than any other athlete of his size, and I didn’t quite feel right about bumping him for Alan Page (though I was tempted). LT, like Guy, changed the linebacker role forever; I don’t think any defensive player ever had so much impact on so many games. Seau is a personal favorite, but that said, has any linebacker been so good for so long – and had that level of skill the whole time? Not much to say about the Woodsons, but I cannot think of anyone better. The same goes for Ronnie Lott; I wouldn’t say he defined his position like Taylor, but he sure exemplified it. Polamalu is more of a personal choice, too. I loved watching him play, and I’d sure rather have him on my side than against me. I could think of no rational argument against Vinatieri (other than some legends about Jim Thorpe), so there you are. I’m not sure I can make a rational argument against Bill Belichik with his amazing record of success in the sport’s most competitive era. Let’s just say that I hate him with the fire of a thousand suns, so I’ll take Lombardi, whose utter turnaround of the Packers was one of the amazing sports stories. I have a little trepidation about this – modern players probably wouldn’t respond to his methods – but I’ll still go with him.