Didn't see a thread on this. They made one team this time around (previously that had First Team and Second Team). Let the Drew Brees outrage begin.
QB: Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers
RB: Frank Gore, Marshawn Lynch, LeSean McCoy, Adrian Peterson
WR: Antonio Brown, Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones
TE: Rob Gronkowski, Travis Kelce
Flex: Darren Sproles
T - Jason Peters, Tyron Smith, Joe Staley, Joe Thomas
G - Jahri Evans, Logan Mankins, Zack Martin, Marshal Yanda
C - Alex Mack, Maukice Pouncey
DE: Calais Campbell, Cameron Jordan, Julius Peppers, J.J. Watt
DT - Geno Atkins, Fletcher Cox, Aaron Donald, Ndamukong Suh
LB - Chandler Jones, Luke Kuechly, Khalil Mack, Von Miller, Bobby Wagner, Patrick Willis
CB - Patrick Peterson, Darelle Revis, Richard Sherman
S - Eric Berry, Earl Thomas, Eric Weddle
DB - Chris harris, Tryann Mathieu
P - Johnny Hekker, Shane Lechler
K - Stephen Gostkowski, Justin Tucker
PR - Tyreek Hill, Darren Sproles
KR - Devin Hester, Cordarrelle Patterson
Coaches - Bill Belichick, Pete Carroll
A lot of disagreement here for me. I really hate that the NFL seems really resistant to changing titles for positions. LB shouldn't have 3 edge defenders. How are there as many Guards as Cornerbacks? Its just asinine to me, as are these Flex and DB categories. My list would be as follows:
QB-
Brady/Rodgers. I see no reason to put Brees ahead of either of them, unless you are judging by purely counting stats, which is an awful method.
RB-
McCoy/Peterson/Charles/Bell. Gore is a joke, I'm not sure he's top-10 of the decade, especially since 2006-2009, doesn't count and Gore's 2 best years are in that time frame. I can live with Lynch, but I'd take Bell's receiving aptitude over Lynch's power any day. Charles missing the list is a very glaring omission.
WR-
Brown/Calvin/Hopkins/Julio. I don't like seeing Fitz on the list, simply because he played the entire decade. Hopkins was better than Fitz by 2015, and remained so for the rest of the decade.
TE-
Gronk/Kelce. No arguments here, really can't even see a case for a different TE.
T-
Thomas/Smith/Peters/Whitworth. Staley is a surprise to me. He'd have been in the 7-10 range for me at OT. Whitworth has a much better high end, and equal consistency.
G-
Yanda/Evans/Martin/DeCastro. I can live with Mankins over DeCastro, but its tough considering he retired in 2015, and wasn't a transcendent guy like Calvin Johnson was at his position. They were similar players, but DeCastro has 2 extra seasons.
C-
Kelce/Pouncey. Jason Kelce might be the biggest omission on the list. He's been easily the best Center of the decade in my opinion.
ED-
Watt/Miller/Mack/Jones. Watt is a somewhat difficult player to classify as it could be argued he was an interior defender for much of his career, but I'm going to put him here. Still makes more sense than the way the NFL does it. Campbell, Heyward, and Wake were tough omissions.
IL-
Donald/Suh/Atkins/Ngata. Haloti Ngata seems to already be underrated. He was arguably the best DT in the NFL from 2010-2014, Fletcher Cox hasn't had that same high end level of play, even if Ngata's low end his last couple years is lower.
LB-
Kuechly/Wagner/Bowman/Willis. If Bowman hadn't gotten hurt, I think he might very well be at the top of this list, and a shoo-in HOF'er. He was awesome, and was just hitting his peak. Still, 4 elite seasons, and another useful one out of 6 healthy seasons, is pretty valuable to me.
CB-
Peterson/Revis/Sherman/Gilmore. Gilmore being clearly the NFL's top CB the last 2 seasons, on top of a few other solid seasons puts him ahead of Chris Harris to me, who never shut down guys the way Gilmore does.
S-
Thomas/Berry/Weddle/Mathieu. Honestly, no real disagreements from me. Like Watt, Mathieu is a little tricky, because he was a CB for a bit, but he's too hard to leave off an has played more Safety than CB, and wouldn't have made the CB group. Harrison Smith is my toughest cut.
K-
Tucker/Gostkowski. They got this right.
P-
Hekker/Lee. I think Shane Lechler is the best Punter in NFL history. That said, his best work was mostly in the previous decade. Andy Lee has both better play and more years in this decade.
KR-
Patterson/Hester. Pretty easy calls here.
PR-
Hill/Sproles. No issues here, although, I'd take Hester over Sproles as a PR if we are being technical.
Coach-
Belichick/Carroll. No issues here either. I was very tempted to put Andy Reid in the 2nd spot, but that flame out in Philly is too low of a low, to beat out Carroll.
