Originally posted by KRS-1:Originally posted by RollinWith21n52:
There are a few players I would look at:
Offense:
-QB:
Matt Ryan -- The kid has a future. I'm wary of taking a guy with 1 good year under his belt, but he is a winner.
Big Ben -- This is one of the great winners in the NFL, maybe ever. 2 superbowl wins already. The question is, can he win without those defenses?
Brady -- He's not old, and he is the greatest quarterback ever not named Joe Montana. Major injuries scare me though. Do you want to build a team around a guy who has not taken a post season-ending surgery snap?
Philip Rivers -- Not as accomplished as Big Ben, but has definitely showed an ability to win. Not as much upside as Matt Ryan, but his peak is very very high, and we know he's at least be a VERY good QB. He's no Brady either, but is younger and doesn't have that injury on his resume. A real tough leader. I live in SD and hate to give props to the chargers, but this kid is a true football player.
RB -- Simply not important enough for me to pick anyone, regardless of how good they are over Tom Brady. They don't get much better than Sanders, and even him I wouldn't take over Brady. Adrian Peterson will get a look here, but I'm not crazy about him, especially as far as durability goes.
LT -- Some good players here, but anyone to build around? Joe Thomas, Ryan Clady, Jake Long. Would you really take these guys over the QBs? We all know Big Ben could do it without them. Just don't see anyone worthy.
-WR:
Larry Fitzgerald -- Young, healthy, good attitude, and the most expolosive player in the game today. You have to ask yourself, if this guy is your #1 receiver, playing at the level he's playing at now, does your QB need to be all that great to connect with him? Maybe not.
Calvin Johnson -- His upside is through the roof. On a good team, with a good coaching staff, barring injury, this guy would be the greatest receiver.
Defense:
DL -- I just don't see worthy player. League's best DT? Haynsworth. Definitely have no intention to build around him. DE? Mario Williams? Not crazy about him. Merriman? After that injury? I'd be a bit scared. Injury is potentially keeping me away from Brady. James Harrison or Ware are not great DE size in my opinion. Peppers is far overrated. So there is one guy. Jared Allen? Maybe, but to build a team around a pass rusher he has to be LT or Reggie White. I don't think Allen is there.
-ILB:
Patrick Willis -- He has the upside to be the building block of a defense. I've seen enough out of him in terms of production and consistent improvement to think he can be the greatest MLB ever if he keeps it up. Along with Fitz, AP, and CJ, he's got the upside to be one of the games elite all time talents. Potential is only potential, but it is there.
-OLB:
Ware -- Here's the thing. Does anyone watch him in big games? I don't know why, but he goes from one of the league's dominant players, to a liability. Maybe he's just taking example from Romo, but it is worrisome.
Harrison -- He was the best player in the superbowl and is an absolute game changer. I think him or Willis have the edge.
S -- I love Ed Reed. He's one of my all time favorite players. But just a tad too old to build around. Sorry Ed. Nobody else is worthy of consideration. Troy misses the cutoff.
CB -- Asomuagha is the best CB. But CBs have a very short career of dominating. Plus, he's not exactly Champ at his prime. He's good, and maybe great. But not much more than that.
Final choices:
Offense -- Philip Rivers
Defense -- James Harrison
A few remarks if I may :
Disagree that Big Ben could win without a good LT, he had Marvel Smith during his 1st SB win and Max Starks who held up well during this SB win and did a good job of protecting Ben's blind side during the regular season (Starks is not great but was good enough to get the franchise tag). He has yet to prove that he doesn't require a good LT to win.
Fair enough. But do you really need the best LT in the game? We'll need good players at most positions to win, the question is, do you need to spend your 1 premium pick here? Walsh and Billichik both believed that good lineman can be found everywhere in the draft and don't have to cost premium picks.
LT for the record was an OLB by trade not a DL.
Sorry for the confusion, I wasn't suggesting he was a D Lineman, I just mentioned him as a pass rusher, noting that there is not a D-line pass rusher with LT potential, while there is an ILB with Ray Lewis/Mike Singletary potential (Willis), a QB with Joe Montana potential (Brady), a RB with Sanders potential (Peterson), a WR with Jerry Rice potential (Fitz), and 2 OLBs that have very high ceilings as pass rushers.
I do believe that a dominant DL is a great piece to build around (much like the Texans did with Super Mario) because he sees 60 snaps or so a game. Personally I think Super Mario is a great DL to build your D around as he is versatile and can be moved around on the line, plays well vs the run and as we all know gets after the QB.
Once again it goes to the point above. I'm not against building around a D-line. I'm against spending my 1 defensive pick on the D-lineman available. I always said that if I had the 1st overall pick in an all time draft to build a team around, Reggie White would be one of a handful of players on my radar. Mario Williams is a good player, but lets not get carried away with how good he really is. Heynsworth, without the attitude and all the injuries is a different story, and would be worth it. But due to those factors he gets dismissed from consideration.
At ILB I think Jon Beason could get an honorable mention. Although Willis is better Beason would not be a bad choice at all.
Sure, but why? Wouldn't take him over Willis. Same age, same positions, also good, but not as good, and the upside is uncomparable. Easy choice here.
I disagree that Ware disappears in big games, especially seeing as he has not really played in many "big games" seeing as though the Cowboys haven't been a playoff team as of late. However in 2 of the Cowboys final 3 games last year when they needed to win to stay in the playoff hunt he came up with 3 sacks & 2 FF's vs the NYG then added another sack and 2 more FF's vs Baltimore the following week.
Go back to the playoff game vs. the Giants a few years back. That was a really rough outing for him. I seem to remember another playoff game the year before where I was not overly impressed. You may be right on this one tho.
As far as Reed being too old to build around he is actually a few months younger than your choice of James Harrison and has played but 1 year more in the league and I'm not sure why Troy would miss the cutoff as he is a huge part of the success of the Steelers D and arguably the best S in the NFL.
Reed is a safety. I feel that a pass rusher has a longer lifespan in the NFL. Granted safeties aren't corners, but I still worry about players in the secondary who are a bit older. Not as much of a concern for me with OLBs. If you notice, I never mentioned Brady's age. As a QB I feel he can have many more great years. If he was a corner, forget it. It's just a matter of position. As for Polomalu? I don't know. It's a good question. Maybe I'm wrong, but I've never seen him to be as good as his rep indicates.
As for your choices they are both good pieces to build your team around.
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