You are the GM . . .

[Arm of Harm]

You are the GM of an expansion team. This team doesn't have a first round draft pick. Nor is there an expansion draft. Instead, you have your draft picks in rounds 2 - 7, and free agency. In addition, you have the opportunity to select any five current or former NFL players. Whichever five you choose, you will get 21-year-old versions of those players. You could have a 21-year-old Johnny Unitas or Jim Brown, for example. You need to pick your five players before the draft and before you learn who's going to be available in free agency.

Which five players do you choose?

[TacklingDummy]

Tom Brady
Bruce Smith
Reggie White
Dion Sanders
Mike Singletary

[Skooby]

Kent Hull
Darrell Talley
Cornelius Bennett
Tyrod Taylor
OJ (Da Juice man)

[Topas]

Montana
Marshall Faulk
Anthony Munoz
Bruce Smith
Darrell Green

[YardRat]

Are we playing under the current league rules?

[Mr. Pink]

Otto Graham
Jim Brown
Jerry Rice
Dick Butkus
Deion Sanders

[Jan Reimers]

Johnny Unitas
Jim Brown
Jerry Rice
Reggie White
Dick Butkus

[SpikedLemonade]

Tom Brady
Bruce Smith
Reggie White
Dion Sanders
Mike Singletary

"I think your balls are perfect"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83xaGtnlvR0

[k-oneputt]

Brady
Lawrence Taylor
Bruce
Reggie White
Deion

[Mr. Miyagi]

I started with the most important positions in my opinion (QB, RB, WR, LT, MLB, DE, CB), then take the best in those positions and weigh against best of all time from other positions and narrow them down. This was very difficult.

Joe Montana
Jerry Rice
Anthony Munoz
Ray Lewis
Reggie White

[TacklingDummy]

"I think your balls are perfect"


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83xaGtnlvR0

Hate to say it but he's probably the best QB ever. He's done it with mostly average WRs that seem to change every year. Montana had Rice/Taylor,Clark most of his career.

[TacklingDummy]

Brady
Lawrence Taylor
Bruce
Reggie White
Deion

Good one, I'd take out Singletary and add Taylor to mine. Forgot about LT.

It's all about putting pressure on the opposing QB.

Brady will get the job done on offense.

LT,Bruce, Reggie will crush the QB's with Deion having it locked down.

[k-oneputt]

That's how I have it fiqured out.
Brady can make do with avg. wr's and rb's.
Deion takes away half the field and best wr, while the other three kill the qb.

[Ed]

Brett Favre
Randy Moss
Rob Gronkowski
Bruce Smith
Lawrence Taylor

[gebobs]

Otto Graham

Then I'd waste the other four picks on Taro Tsujimoto, Tom Cousineau, Jiri Dudacek, and Spike Jones (the comedian, not the punter)

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Trying to do this only with players that haven't been taken

Peyton Manning
Tony Gonzalez
Antonio Gates
Ed Reed
Derrick Thomas

[TacklingDummy]

Trying to do this only with players that haven't been taken

Peyton Manning
Tony Gonzalez
Antonio Gates
Ed Reed
Derrick Thomas

2 TEs?

[BidsJr]

1. Peyton Manning
2. Barry Sanders
3. Randy Moss
4. Reggie White
5. Ray Lewis

[Jaybird]

1) Tom Brady
2) Jerry Rice
3) Barry Sanders
4) Deion Sanders
5) Ray lewis

[YardRat]

Otto Graham--In the argument for best of all time.
Gale Sayers--Pure runner, caught a lot of balls (considering the game at his time), also covers me for KR.
Deacon Jones--The reason why sacks are now a stat, nasty against the run too.
Lawrence Taylor--A pack of wild dogs in one body.
Rod Woodson--Unlike Deion, Woodson was shutdown and loved to hit people and tackle, also covers me for PR.

Hated to not choose an offensive lineman, but defense has always won championships, and always will.

[Arm of Harm]

Are we playing under the current league rules?

yes

[Generalissimus Gibby]

1) QB John Unitas, he got 40,000 yards and almost 300 tds in an era when QBs could be ***** slapped, beaten around, and brutalized. Could you imagine what he could do today?
2) RB Sweetness, Walter Payton - Longevity, great hands, great back, not his fault he played on lots of **** teams and that the Bears did not reach their peak during the Ditka years until his last few years in the League.
3) WR Jerry Rice, I want Johny U to have the greatest receiver to ever play the game
4) DE Bruce Smith, good against the run and better against the pass. He makes bad things happen to opposing offenses for years
5) LB/C Chuck Bednarik, the single toughest SOB to ever play the game.

You can buy tickets to watch the MST3K Juggernaut win the superbowl now

[IlluminatusUIUC]

2 TEs?

I wanted two pass catchers, and given my limit on taking only guys who hadn't been claimed I think I get better value from two TEs. The 2011 Pats were primarily a two TE offense and they were dominant.

[YardRat]

Sweetness is a good pick...I was down to him or Sayers for RB for my five...tough call.

[Mace]

Absolutely great thread idea, imho. Made me think, remember, and appreciate the football I've seen through my life.

1. Need a QB. I'm going outside the box. Archie Manning, "the franchise QB without a franchise". I loved his arm, his touch, his leadership, his mobility, and it drove me nuts that the saints couldn't but a team around him, protect him, or utilize him for his entire wasted career. Well I'm giving him a franchise.

2. Need protect the QB. LT Anthony Munoz to anchor the line. I think Munoz was the most dominant offensive lineman I ever saw. Always looked like he was playing against little kids and wasn't even breaking a sweat. Don't you worry about a thing, Archie, I'll fill out your line in the draft better than the Bills have, or the Saints could.

3. Need an offensive threat for Manning. Obviously has to be Jerry Rice. Danny Abramowicz was a good receiver for the Saints with Archie. He was not however Jerry Rice. Roll 'em up, Archie.

4. Over to defense. LB Lawrence Taylor, the most dominant defensive player I ever saw. He was all over the place, all the time. It was ridiculous. I used to think of the Giants as the NY Lawrence Taylor's. He makes everything better, coverage, pass rush, run defense, even the offense which has to worry less.

5. I was thinking about a DB or DL...there's one other player I define a whole team by. The Houston JJ Watt's. DE JJ Watt. Pair him up with LT and you have a horror movie for opposing offenses.

With those 2-7 picks, I'll beef up my OL, look for a TE, DB's, ILB, and a DT, I'll fish through FA and UDFA for RB's (who won't be Trent Richardson) and a vet receiver.

There are a lot of players I had to painfully rule out because I'm not sure how they translate to the modern era of the game or translate to different coaches or schemes, being thrown into the fire as rookies in this era, etc. I wanted 5 players who I felt transcended era, those are my guys.

Thanks for the thread idea, really enjoy it.

[Night Train]

Johnny Unitas
Jim Brown
Jerry Rice
Reggie White
Dick Butkus

I was torn between White and Deacon Jones. Great picks.

[stuckincincy]

1. C Jim Otto
2. P Ray Guy
3. QB Dan Fouts
4. MLB Ray Lewis
5. RB John Riggins.

[Arm of Harm]

My personal preference is for passing offense/defense over rushing offense/defense. Bearing that preference in mind, I wanted players at the following five positions: 1) QB, 2) LT, 3) WR, 4) pass rusher or CB, 5) pass rusher or CB.

QB: The three players I most strongly considered were Joe Montana, Tom Brady, and Aaron Rodgers. Of the three, Rodgers has the highest career yards per attempt (8.0), Brady the lowest (7.4). Montana had the strongest supporting cast of the three, Rodgers by far the weakest. On the other hand, Rodgers' teams earned only one Super Bowl ring, as opposed to four each for Montana and Brady. I'm going with Rodgers on this one.

LT: My initial choice here would have been Orlando Pace. But after doing some research, I've decided Munoz was probably better. Going with Munoz.

WR: the three players I considered were Jerry Rice, Larry Fitzgerald, and A.J. Green. After looking at their stats, I decided on Rice. (Even though I consider the other two physically superior.) Maybe ten years from now Green might be the choice--at least if he continues putting up Rice-like stats between now and then.

Defensive player: Bruce Smith. Not only is he the all-time sack leader in NFL history, he accomplished that playing as a DE in a 3-4. You'd normally expect a 3-4 DE to get fewer sacks than a 4-3 DE, because the 3-4 DE has more run-stopping responsibilities. To get as many sacks as Smith did, while also being a complete football player (run stopping) is remarkable.

Defensive player: Lawrence Taylor. With Smith and Taylor on the same defense, opposing QBs will hear the footsteps coming. Offenses might be able to figure out a way to neutralize one or the other. But they'd be hard-pressed to neutralize both! Like Smith, Taylor was a complete football player.

[The Jokeman]

Reggie White. Could play outside or inside so arguably the most complete Dlineman in NFL history.

John Elway. Best all around QB in NFL history.

Lawrence Taylor. Offenses can't double team White and Taylor pn every down.

Rob Gronkowski. Elway made Shannon Sharpe a HOF.Gronk is a more complete TE.

Marcus Allen. Early in his career he was as complete a RB as you could find. If Bo Jackson stuck with baseball Allen's career numbers would be off the charts.

[stuckincincy]

Marcus Allen. Early in his career he was as complete a RB as you could find. If Bo Jackson stuck with baseball Allen's career numbers would be off the charts.

Absolutely. Allen was a tremendous back.

[Mace]

Absolutely. Allen was a tremendous back.

Your Riggins was a beast too. I toyed with Cincinnati's Pete Johnson, but had to go with Rice as the offensive threat in the modern game to complement my QB.

Fouts was another good one. The guy was fearsome every play.

[TacklingDummy]

Sweetness is a good pick...I was down to him or Sayers for RB for my five...tough call.

No RB is a good pick in this Era of football.

[Topas]

I disagree. Thats why I choose Marshall Faulk. Basically another WR that is a very good RB too.
All these old school RB (sweetness, OJ etc.) are not worth a pick because of their pass catching. Some of these were good pass catchers (Allen if I remember corrrectly), but none of these can hold a candle to Faulk, the best two way threat in the history of the NFL. And I am in no way a St. Louis fan ...

Faulk has to be the pick.

Edit addition: by the way, arm of harm, great idea for an thread. until Lit tells us that all our choices suck...

[HHURRICANE]

If I'm Rex I'm praying Mario is fool's gold in Miami

[Joe Fo Sho]

Reggie White
Bruce Smith
Lawrence Taylor
Ray Lewis
Peyton Manning


Strategy would be to destroy the opposing quarterback...and have a quarterback of your own. Defense still wins championships. Peyton makes everyone on offense better, Ray Lewis makes everyone on defense better. This pass rush makes the secondary better. Use the draft picks and free agency to build an offensive line and pray it works.

[Mouldsie]

Aaron Rodgers
Lawrence Taylor
JJ Watt
Ed Reed
Rod Woodson

Theory:
I've got the highest rated QB of all time (I can't in good conscience pick Brady) who can excel in any system and is mobile. He'll create the offense.

Defensively I want to get after the QB and make them either hold the ball and get sacked by my chess piece sack monsters (Bruce and Reggie were considered) or chuck it up and get picked off. I almost went Revis or Charles Woodson over Rod. Deion not physical enough. Polamalu and Lott were also there. So many considerations!

positions left off:
RB: no
WR: Rice was obv thought about but SB teams rarely built around WR
TE: considered
OL: my OL theory is 5 solid players working together is the best scenario in the salary cap era
MLB: meh

[POTLAND PSILBYLO]

Bruce Smith
Sam Adams
Lester Hayes
Lawrence Taylor WITH COCAINE
Coy Wire

[EDS]

Peyton Manning
Bruce Smith
Reggie White
Ray Lewis
Rod Woodson

[The Jokeman]

2 TEs?

The Patriots have shown that a two TE offense is almost impossible to defend if they're good enough.

[The Jokeman]

Peyton Manning
Marcus Allen
Reggie White
Lawrence Taylor
Charles Woodson

[Generalissimus Gibby]

Year two of this scenario

Reggie White- Bruce on one end Reggie on the other, in today's pass happy league I intend to give Tom Brady nightmares

Lawrence Taylor - You cannot block LT and defense wins championships

Jim Otto and Art Shell- I want holes blown open in the Defense for Walter Payton and I want to give Unitas a chance to find his receivers

TE Tony Gonzalez- big endzone target, decent extra blocker. So far we have

Unitas
Payton
Smith
White
Taylor
Bednarik
Otto
Shell
Gonzalez
Rice

I think we are still a year away because I need to pick up a good backup qb, some help in the secondary, and I need another linebacker

[Generalissimus Gibby]

By the way I just hope that Coach Lombardi, and his OC Don Coryell and DC Tom Landry and ST coach Marv Levy can get a maximum effort out of thrse guys