All-Time Football Draft: The Picks

[Comey]

I came *this* close to taking Motley...but then I came up with my line of thinking, and couldn't pass up on Sayers. This is a great pick, and probably better than my pick of the same round.

[pskov]

Now I have a strong urge to pick a QB, but am trying to resist. I can see many defensive players that I could take here, but the feeling is just to strong, I shall succumb.

Bart Starr, QB

The guy defined leadership and he has one of the great stories of football in being drafted way way down the pile, then barely staying on the team for several years before Lombardi arrived and made him the starter. Several championships later and perhaps the single greatest performance by any QB in a championship game in the Ice Bowl, he is my guy. Plus he has the coolest name, he sounds like a Las Vegas stand-up.

[Chubby]

You bastard, I was going to team him up with Lombardi next pick...

[VPI97]

Looking my team I think I need get some of the big boys in the trenches, so my next pick will be:

Gene Upshaw, G

• Seven-time Pro Bowler
• Owner of two Super Bowl rings
• Member of the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team
• First player who played guard exclusively inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame

[Chubby]

Well with Bart Starr gone I'll go with the other guy I was thinking about taking at QB. I thought Starr would work well with my team with Lombardi as coach, but this guy fits in well too.

A heisman trophy winner as a junior at Navy. A 2 time Super Bowl winner, Super Bowl MVP in 1972, and a 5 time NFC Passing Leader. He's #3 in QB Rating of all HOF QB's.

Roger Staubach, QB

[WSUCougar]

Originally Posted by judicial clerk

I like even less, however, WSU Couger's pick of Dan Fouts in the second round. I think there were better QB's available at the time (and maybe still available) and I bet Fouts could have been picked up a round or two later. Altogether, I do like WSU Cougar's team. You just better pick up Art Shell or somebody to be Fouts bodyguard.

While I can concede that Fouts was a bit of a reach when I took him, the pick was predicated on the type of offense that transpired when I took Jerry Rice. Under different circumstances, I wouldn't have touched Fouts, but I wanted a high-volume slinger, and who better than the HOF master of Air Coryell?

You read my mind on the Art Shell pick, although it's kind of a no-brainer for me at this point, since I've been locked on him for awhile.

T ART SHELL

I wanted Munoz or Hannah pretty bad, but they went before I could take them.

[Vince]

This is getting really difficult...

C/LB Chuck Bednarik

Fantastic instincts and 8 pro-bowls, I think he's a great addition to my team. We're running out of no-brainer picks, and getting into the grey area of interpretation...I think this is where we're going to make or break our teams.

[Comey]

GAH!

My father worked with Bednarik after his playing days. One day, during my senior year in HS, he had lunch with him. He asked if he could autograph something for me, as I am a huge Eagles fan. Chuck said sure, and whipped out his picture of him hitting Frank Gifford. He began to sign it with what he said after he hit Gifford...and it included a curse word. My dad said "Chuck! He's just a kid!"

So Chuck says, all right...and signs it:

"This f----- game is over!"

Next to Gifford, he has "Sorry Frank". It's probably the most interesting piece of memorabilia I own.

[Vince]

Wow...crazy story.

[Vince]

Dola - Bearcat is on the clock.

[Bearcat729]

Time to give Mr Young someone to throw to. I select WR Paul Warfield and his 20.1 yard per catch average

[BishopMVP]

I choose the second best safety ever, Larry Wilson, and since I have no Linebackers, 8-time Pro Bowler and the man who created the MLB position when he stood up and moved back a step, Bill George.

[Bearcat729]

The team needs someone to coach it, so we select Paul Brown Head Coach

[Vince]

A five time pro-bowler who appeared in 4 of the first 6 Super Bowls...

CB Herb Adderly

I need someone in the secondary, and he's one of the best left. 48 career INTs.

WSUCougar, you're on the clock.

[TLK]

bump for WSU....

[WSUCougar]

Sorry guys, I was asleep at the wheel.

I really had my sights set on Mike Singletary to anchor my defense, but obviously that option was stolen from my clutches. So I'm going to turn to a modern juggernaut instead. Say what you will about the guy off the field, but the man is one of the best defensive players of our era if not ever.

MLB Ray Lewis

Chubby, you're on the clock.

[VPI97]

Originally Posted by WSUCougar

MLB Ray Lewis

I'm going to have to pick Billy "Whiteshoes" Johnson just to match your team in the dancing category.

[Chubby]

Player A
11 seasons
9 Pro Bowls
126.5 Sacks
11.5 Sacks/Season

Player B
13 Seasons
11 Pro Bowls
142 Sacks (includes unoffical sacks)
10.9 Sacks/season


I'll take "Player A" to round out the middle of my 3-4 Defense...
Derrick Thomas, LB


"Player B" was LT...

[VPI97]

I'll go to the offensive line again and pick:

Dwight Stephenson, C

Although he only played for eight seasons, due to a fluke injury on a fumble return, Stephenson is considered by many to be the greatest center who ever played the game.

- held a streak of 107 consecutive straight games until streak was halted due to the 1987 NFL strike
- 5 time Pro-Bowler
- 5 time NFLPA Lineman of the Year
- 1985 NFL Man of the Year
- 1998 Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee

- "the greatest center I have ever coached" - Paul "Bear" Bryant

- "If I could tell a young player to learn from one of my veterans, to follow around and copy one player, that player would always be Dwight" - Don Shula

- “We were playing the Cowboys once, and we were trying to run behind Stephenson and Roy Foster,” former Dolphins’ tight end Joe Rose said. “On one play, Dwight moved like lightning over to help Foster with one of the Cowboys - I never could understand how he could snap the ball and still get off so quick he could blow people away. Anyway he did, and rubbed out one guy, and then here came Bill Bates blitzing in. I had a perfect view from the sideline, and I knew there was no way Dwight could get Bates too. But Dwight caught him right on the chin and Bates hit head-first going backwards. I just stood there watching in awe."

- Former New York Jets defensive lineman Joe Klecko faced Stephenson twice each season. Klecko knew just how tough that assignment could be. “Dwight made fools of people who made mistakes,” he remembered. “You knew he would destroy you, anyway. If you messed up, it just happened faster."

[JAG]

pskov took my player in front of me once, will he do so again?

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by VPI97

I'm going to have to pick Billy "Whiteshoes" Johnson just to match your team in the dancing category.

I call Ickey Woods or the '86 Bears.

[JAG]

I already have Deion, I don't need anyone else in the dancing / high-stepping category.

[Comey]

Gonna give this a bump...

[BishopMVP]

Who's up, pskov?

Riiiiiiiiiiiiggggghhhhhttttt.

Or Bump.

[pskov]

Sorry, I haven't been able to spend much time at the boards lately. I'll put my pick up in a few mins.

[pskov]

There are two players that I was thinking about taking here, but suddenly a name appeared from nowhere, stunning me with how I should, nay must take him. Without this man, football as we know it today would be so different, it would most likley be unrecognisable. His innovations were many, his feats incredible and his love for the game undeniable. This man is a living embodiment of what it means to love football. this man is football. This man is George Halas, who I shall take as my Head Coach.

• 321 NFL wins over a staggering 40 year coaching career
• 6 NFL championships as a Head Coach
• Twice NFL Coach of the Year (1963, 1965)
• Founder of the Chicago Bears
• Inagural Hall of Fame inductee (1963)
• Inventor of the Pro-T formation
• First to use films of opponents' games for study
• First coach to hold daily practice sessions
• First coach to use offensive motion
• Founding member of the American Football Association, which became the NFL

*Whew*

[pskov]

Also, JAG picks John Mackey, TE. The original (and best?) pass catching tight end.

[pskov]

doube dola-

At the end of round 6 I will do a mid-draft review of all the picks in my, inevitably biased (), opinion and grade out the teams so far.

Also, an idea of how the draft will play out at the end. At the drafts completion, all of the contestants shall PM me a paragraph or so of how they built their team, what they were looking for, how they think they all fit together and, most importantly, why they think they should win. Then I shall post a poll with all the team blogs and ask the FOFC faithful to decide. Sound good?

[Noble_Platypus]

Buck Buchanan DT
8 straight pro bowls
166 consecutive games started, only missing 1 in his career

[mckerney]

I didn't intend on taking another back here, but being he's still available in round 6, I have to take the player that has been called the greatest college football player ever, Red Grange, RB, who will be the 4th and final member of my backfield.

Here's a story from College Football News

The Michigan game: The game that turned Grange from a great college player into a legend was the 1924 upset of Fielding Yost's Michigan team that hadn't lost in three years. Grange proved mightier than college football's best team from the start scoring a 95-yard touchdown on the opening kickoff. After scoring runs of 67, 56 and 44 yards, Grange was given a well deserved rest ... in the first quarter. On the day Grange scored five touchdowns and threw for another in an improbable 39-14 win. To put Grange's performance into perspective, Michigan allowed a total of 32 points in its previous twenty games and gave up 24 points over the 17 games after the the Illinois loss.

[Comey]

I will take S Ken Houston. A strong safety is crucial to any defense, and I feel comfortable taking one of the finest the game has ever seen.

[TLK]

Need to make this quick but here it goes.....

Earl Campbell- RB

and

Bill Walsh- Head Coach

[Vince]

Argh...was hoping Walsh would last.

[Comey]

I'll take head coach Don Shula.

[Chubby]

coach run...

[Vince]

And the coaching run begins...

[Vince]

Dola - Great minds think alike

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by Vince

Dola - Great minds think alike

yup
good thing i got my coach already

[Vince]

[BishopMVP]

So now does McKerney keep with stockpiling great early college football people and pick Knute Rockne?

[BishopMVP]

Dola, I was under the impression that we were basing this off NFL. Thinking about it now, does a player's college career matter at all?

[Chubby]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

Dola, I was under the impression that we were basing this off NFL. Thinking about it now, does a player's college career matter at all?

Nope, but shhhhhhhhhhh...

[Noble_Platypus]

If it did, Tony Mandarich would have been picked already

[mckerney]

Originally Posted by BishopMVP

So now does McKerney keep with stockpiling great early college football people and pick Knute Rockne?

Pick someone who coached at Notre Dame? Never!

I will, however, pick Ron Yary, OT. Enshrined in the NFL hall of fame and one of the best in history at his position, he'd be a perfect guy to help lead the way for all those running backs.

As far as what to base performance one, I'm basing it one whatever the highest level they played at was. While Mandarich showed he couldn't compete against the top players in his time, when players like Grange and Thorpe played college football was where the top competition was. Although they did play football professionally it was a side show at the time, a barnstorming league playing games without a weekly schedule but when they made a stop in a town. They played pro football, but pro football wasn't what it is today, and for that reason we know them much better for what they did when they played in college.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by mckerney

Pick someone who coached at Notre Dame? Never!

Looks like Godzilla Blitz won't be a part of this auction.

[pskov]

Bump.

Review up later today.

[JAG]

I'm back btw pskov...so I may think of someone else for a pick.

[WSUCougar]

Alright, let's roll this puppy.

[mckerney]

Biz-ump.

[WSUCougar]

This thread seems to be dying on the vine. I think Noble Platypus has had plenty of time, so let's proceed. JAG?