Steeler players not included. You'll be making a 31 man team. In addition to the usual starting 11 on both sides of the ball, I'll give you 2 extra players on offense and defense, plus 5 dedicated special teamers.
On offense, you'll choose 1 QB, 2 RB's, 1 FB, 3 WR's, 1 TE, 2 OT's, 2 OG's, and 1 C. That's 13 guys.
On defense, you'll choose 2 DE's, 2 DT's, 2 OLB's, 2 ILB's, 1 SS, 1 FS, and 3 CB. That's also 13 guys.
On special teams, you'll choose 1 K, 1 P, 1 KR, 1 PR, and 1 LS. Combined with the other 26, that makes 31.
Remember, you get one and only one player from each NFL team (Steelers excluded). This is an exercise in building a team from the ground up, so take age into account. You might love Peyton Manning and Ed Reed, but how much longer will those guys be around? Pick a team that you think should be able to dominate now as well as in the future.
Here is my team:
QB Aaron Rodgers, GB
RB Adrian Peterson, MIN
RB Lesean McCoy, PHI
FB Marcel Reece, OAK
WR Calvin Johnson, DET
WR A.J. Green, CIN
WR Julio Jones, ATL
TE Rob Gronkowski, NE
OT Jake Long, MIA
OT Joe Thomas, CLE
OG Carl Nicks, TB
OG Jahri Evans, NO
C Ryan Kalil, CAR
DE J.J. Watt, HOU
DE Jason Pierre-Paul, NYG
DT Haloti Ngata, BAL
DT Marcel Dareus, BUF
OLB Von Miller, DEN
OLB Ryan Kerrigan, WAS
ILB Patrick Willis, SF
ILB James Laurinaitis, STL
SS Eric Berry, KC
FS Earl Thomas, SEA
CB Darrelle Revis, NYJ
CB Patrick Peterson, ARZ
CB Morris Claiborne, DAL
K Rob Bironas, TEN
P Mike Scifres, SD
KR Devin Hester, CHI
PR T.Y. Hilton, IND
LS Jeremy Cain, JAX
Some swaps I considered: Flip-flopping the quarterbacks and punt returners (of all things) between the Packers and Colts (considered Andrew Luck as my QB with Randall Cobb as my PR instead of Rodgers and Hilton), but I think Rodgers should have plenty of years left in him and he has already shown that he has what it takes to win a championship (for how impressive Luck has been so far, we haven't seen him in the playoffs yet). I also thought about swapping inside linebackers for nickel corners between the Cowboys and Rams (considered Sean Lee as a ILB and Janorris Jenkins as a CB instead of Laurinaitis and Claiborne). I also worried a bit about the short shelf life of RB's, replacing Adrian Peterson with Doug Martin (which would allow me to use my Viking slot on Percy Harvin as a kick returner), but after seeing Peterson come back from a late season ACL tear to be the best RB in football once again, I'm convinced he's a cyborg of some kind. Anyway, have at it, folks! I challenge you all to build a better roster than mine!
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