The 2012-13 NFL All-HHSR Super Team

Twelve days. We’re closing in on the start of another NFL season (I will literally be doing this move at the crib on September 5!). It got me the thinking, who is the top quarterback in the NFL today. But why not take it a step further; who is the best player at every major position in football?

So that’s what we’ve done. The exact question, if you could have one player on your team at each position right now, who would you pick? So without further adieu…

If I could have one wide receiver on my squad, I’d take…

Larry Fitzgerald.

I know. Many of you are think this is nuts. It’s hard, really hard to look at what Calvin Johnson did last season and not put him here. If we’re talking fantasy football, Calvin is definitely the guy. But I’ve always been a big fan of Fitz. He’s not as big or as fast as Johnson, but he’s still pretty big and fast, and has the best hands in the biz. Fitz has also performed at an All-Pro level in the playoffs, and nearly stole the Super Bowl from the Steelers (Too bad the defense couldn’t hold it…a subject we will revisit later).

Fitzgerald has missed only four games in his eight year career and despite having guys like Josh McCown, Derek Anderson, John Skelton, Matt Leinart and Kevin Kolb throwing him passes (Kurt Warner only played one 16 game season in Arizona, he missed several games due to being a fossil), he’s been crazy productive his entire career. With averages of 87 rec, 1,200 yrds and 9 TDs per season, they don’t get any better than this guy. You’re basically splitting hairs with Megatron, but Fitz has been more consistent for a longer stretch of time, his numbers have remained solid after the departure of Anquan Boldin and he has done it on the biggest stage. Throw in a potential Madden Curse for Calvin and Fitz gets the nod.

Sidebar: For comparative sake, Megatron’s career averages: 73 rec, 1,174 yrds, 10 TDs. Also, Fitz had nearly 1,100 yrds and a career-high 13 TDs in his Madden cover year.

If I could have one inside linebacker on my squad, I’d take…

Patrick Willis.

Patrick Willis has been knocking cats sideways for awhile now. He’s the best inside linebacker in football.

Willis is the complete package. Speed, strength, excellent tackler, good hands, born leader. What more could you ask for from an inside linebacker? While Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher are still among the best in the business, the 27-year-old Willis is in the prime of his career and still has the ability to stay with receivers coming out of the backfield. A four-time First Team All-Pro, Willis is the cornerstone piece of at 49ers defense that was easily the best in football last season and after learning under the great Mike Singletary at the start of his career, Willis seems to be equipped with all of the intangibles of the great middle linebackers in NFL history.

If I could have one tight end on my squad, I’d take…

Rob Gronkowski.

This one was tough. REALLY tough, especially since I had Jimmy Graham on both of my fantasy teams last season. Graham is as athletic as they come at the tight end position. The enormous 6’7″ former basketball player can go get the football at it’s highest point as good as any great wide receiver in this league. It doesn’t hurt that he plays with an MVP caliber signal caller in New Orleans.

The Gronk has a pretty good player running his offense too and together they combined for 17 touchdowns and 1,327 receiving yards for Gronk last season, both NFL records for a tight end. It was this historic year that led to the now fabled “Summer of Gronk” and a new contract extension, six-years and $54M, including $18.17M in guaranteed dough. It is the richest deal ever signed by a tight end.

Gronk’s ability to be an effective run blocker, sets him apart from Graham. And his uncanny ability go get open, catch the football and run through an entire defense sets him apart from everyone else.

Yep. It’s good to be The Gronk.

If I could have one pass rusher on my squad, I’d take…

DeMarcus Ware.

This is another very tough call. The decision was made to group together all pass rushers, thus including both defensive ends and outside linebackers. Reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year T Sizzle is currently on the mend after tearing his Achilles tendon while allegedly playing basketball this off-season (Shouts to the REAL Ball So Hard University!). So he is removed from this discussion.

Look at the comparison between these two guys below. You can’t make this stuff up.

The league’s elite pass rushers have more or less stayed the same over the last five years. Clay Matthews, Dwight Freeney, Suggs, Tamba Hali, Justin Tuck, Jason Babin and Julius Peppers have all spent time at or near the list of top pass rushers for a given season. A young crop of players (Aldon Smith, Jason Pierre-Paul, Von Miller) are chomping at the bit to reach the top of this list in 2012. But two players have stood alone in this category since 2007.

Jared Allen and DeMarcus Ware have been far and away the best pass rushers in football over the last five years, despite there being a stacked group of competition. Their numbers are eerily similar over that time span as well:

Since 2007 (Allen spent 1 year in Kansas City, followed by 4 years in Minnesota):

Staggeringly similar, but Ware’s have been a tad bit better. DeMarcus has never missed a game in his career and (for what it’s worth) his teams have been a little better than Jared Allen’s on average. From a technique standpoint, I’ve always been a fan of Dwight Freeney. I just feel like he has every trick in the bag. But he’s battled some injuries and has been somewhat inconsistent. To win one game, tomorrow — Ware’s my guy.

If I could have one running back on my squad, I’d take…

Adrian Peterson LeSean McCoy.

Nobody is touching a healthy Adrian Peterson. He’s the best running back I’ve seen since Barry Sanders walked away (Sorry Marshall, Sorry LT, Sorry Emmitt). Maurice Jones-Drew is definitely in the discussion, but as we’ve discussed on HHSR, he is a little preoccupied with a contract dispute at the present time. Chris Johnson is also in the discussion, but after a down 2011, he needs to bounce back before he can get back into this conversation. The remaining candidates are Ray Rice, Arian Foster and McCoy.

Again, you’re splitting hairs with these three guys. All of them have proven to be effective 3-down backs that can carry the load as a feature guy, and have done so for the last few years. These guys are all under 26 (McCoy is the youngest at 24), but it’s Shady McCoy’s explosiveness and allusiveness from anywhere on the field that sets him apart. This isn’t to say Foster or Rice aren’t capable of breaking a long one, they’ve both done it many times. But there is something special about McCoy when he gets the ball in space. He makes more players miss than any back in the league today, and aside from AD, is the most fun guy to watch carry the rock in the NFL. Every game is And 1 Mixtape Football Edition with this guy.

It’s not all subjective preference though; Shady’s number back up his claim to the HHSR best back in the league title. McCoy has missed only two games in his three-year career, he’s fumbled only five times (six for Rice, nine for Foster) on 801 career touches, even though he insists on carrying the football like a loaf of bread. He’s also averaging 5.0 yards per carry the last two seasons (4.65 for Foster, 4.35 for Rice) and he’s proven to be a dynamic receiver out of the backfield, averaging 55 catches for 405 yards per season in his young career. And did I mention he has an elite nose for the goal line? The guy racked up an NFL high 20 TDs last season, many of them from short yardage, something that has plagued Rice in the past.

Foster and Rice are right there, but Shady is the the man (until AD returns from vacation).

If I could have one defensive back on my squad, I’d take…

Darrelle Revis.

When you open this up to all defensive backs, this conversation becomes a little harder to figure out, but Revis is just a notch above a group of veterans that made this position extremely competitive.

The competition? The always reliable Champ Baily, the turnover forcing machine Charles Woodson and the best safety I have ever seen…Ed Reed.

Sidebar: Ed Reed has always been and should go down as a better player than Troy Polamulu. Polamulu is great in his own way, but his daredevil recklessness has gotten him burned many times, and for whatever reason, people just seemed to take notice after Super Bowl XLV.

One reason Revis gets the nod over this group is because he’s in the youngest; I am of the opinion that corner back is probably the one position that requires the most athletic ability. So Revis, 27, is not only dominant today, he’ll likely be dominant for many years to come. Injuries have been a nemesis of Reed in recent years. Though he played all 16 games last season, he always appears to be banged up.

Nnamdi Asomugha is considered by many to be in Revis’ class, but I never quite bought into it. He’s a very good player and quarterbacks rarely tested him in Oakland. However his effect was never so profound that it directly translated into wins for the Raiders. This may sound a bit unfair, but when he signed that enormous contract with the Eagles last summer, a team that had more weapons than this guy, on both sides of the ball, he struggled a bit and Philly missed the playoffs. Also, being in Oakland all those years prevented Nnamdi from playing in any truly meaningful games (honestly I’ve NEVER seen the guy make a really big play in a big game), whereas Revis has been to two AFC title games as the linchpin of a dominant defense that carried a garbage offense. Woodson, the man who beat out Revis for NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2009, has recently won a Super Bowl — more recently, he was in a secondary that gave up the most passing yards in a single season in NFL history. There may be some defensible reasons for this, but still…the most passing yards allowed ever? EVER???

What makes Revis special is that he is essentially matched up in man coverage with the other team’s best receiver every single Sunday, and he usually wins that matchup. His 2009-10 season was arguably one of the best individual seasons by a corner of all time given the level of competition he faced. Some websites have gone even deeper on Revis’ performance. There’s been little to no fall off for 24 the last two years either. This probably explains why his peers recently voted him the best defensive player in football.

Revis’ 1-on-1 work takes away the other team’s best offensive receiver and it allows Jets Head Coach Rex Ryan to do almost whatever he wants with regards to blitz packages since he doesn’t have to worry about being burned. This strategy has led to the Jets having one of the league’s top defenses each year since Ryan and Revis teamed up.

Revis isn’t flawless. This is a passing league and the rules favor the offensive player and he has been roasted by the likes of the best. But every DB has been beaten, so there’s no shame in that. What Revis brings is a physicality to the corner position, coupled with uncanny ball skills that most guys around the league simply cannot match.

Lots of great DB’s to choose from, but Darrelle Revis is alone on an island.

If I could have one special teams player on my squad, I’d take…

Devin Hester.

You know you’re a bad man when you take the opening kickoff in the Super Bowl to the crib.

There are two types of punters in the NFL: those who punt to Devin Hester and the smart ones. As long as they keep kicking to him, Hester will keep extending his own NFL record for most career kickoff and punt returns for touchdowns.

Honorable mention shoutout to Joshua Cribbs, who still is one of the elite return men in NFL history and is also one of the better special teams gunners in the league. However since taking up a bigger role in the Cleveland Browns offense, Cribbs’ role as a gunner has diminished considerably.

Nevertheless, no one special teams player can turn an entire game on its ear as quickly as Hester. He has single-handedly won games for the Chicago Bears. In fact, he’s single-handily responsible for the possibly the greatest postgame moment in NFL history.

If I could have one quarterback on my squad, I’d take…

Tom Brady.

Accuracy, arm strength, poise, pocket presence, built for all seasons, swag (if you’re into that sort of thing), chick magnet, intelligence, longevity, heart, leader, winner, born stunna.

There is only one Tom Brady.

Tom Terrific has been racking up career accolades since his early years as a starter for the New England Patriots. He has the best win percentage of any starting quarterback in NFL history. He holds the NFL record for TD passes in a single season and (in a different season) he became the only unanimous MVP in league history. He was at the helm when the Pats won a record 21 consecutive games. He holds records for best TD to interception ratio in a single season (36-4) and most consecutive pass attempts without an interception. He also won NFL Comeback Player of the Year after a suffering devastating knee injury.

That was all between 2001 and 2010 (I could go on, notice I never once mentioned the words Super Bowl), but this list is about who is the best right now. Right now, Drew Brees and the reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers are certainly in Brady’s class. In 2011 Brees set the record for most passing yards in a single season and Rodgers set the single season record for passer rating at an absurd 122.5. Both players have won a Super Bowl in recent years. When it comes down to picking one of these three field generals, it may just come down to a matter of personal preference.

While Drew Brees’ entire off-season has been in upheaval, Rodgers is coming off of a particularly uninspiring performance (26-46, 264 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) in a 17-point 2nd round home playoff loss to the Giants back in January. Given that this happened after a 15-1 season for the Pack, including 8-0 at Lambeau and a MVP season from the double-check man, to call the end to Rodgers’ season a “disappointment” would be a gross understatement.

Meanwhile, Brady is 35 and is easily the oldest of the three. At his age, he should surely be starting to fade into the twilight of his career. Many of his detractors point to the fact that he has not won a Super Bowl since 2005 (or since Spy Gate), and therefore he has somehow fallen off.

Let’s be clear: There has been no fall off of Tom Brady.

He just played in his fifth Super Bowl. That’s five Super Bowl appearances for Brady in 10 seasons as a starter.

In the same weekend in which Brees and Rodgers took L’s in the 2012 playoffs, Tom Brady was busy throwing 6 touchdowns against the Denver Broncos, who had a pretty good defense last year. It took some luck to slip past the Ravens in the AFC title game; Brady did not play well, but he was still able to tie Joe Montana for the most playoff victories by a starting quarterback in league history. Still, Brady rebounded again in the Super Bowl against the New York Giants. People forget that in the middle of that game, he set a record for most consecutive completions in a Super Bowl (He also broke Kurt Warner’s record for career passing yards in the Super Bowl).

Props to Eli Manning for outplaying Tom Brady for the 2nd time in the Super Bowl, but for the 2nd time Brady did enough to beat the G-Men. It took one of the most miraculous drives AND plays ever to top Brady’s TD drive with just over two minutes left in Super Bowl XLII and Brady had the Pats in position to put the Giants away in Super Bowl XLVI, until Wes Welker let it slip through his fingers.

Sidebar: The Tyree catch was so miraculous, he never caught another pass in the NFL ever again! After battling some injuries, he never made another NFL roster and he ended his career with 54 total receptions. A marginal receiver made one of the best plays in Super Bowl history…pure luck. And Welker’s catch wouldn’t have been easy, but the guy has led the league in receptions three times!!! You’d think a guy that sure-handed would’ve been able to haul in a pass that hit both of his hands right in front of his face.  

Sidebar to the Sidebar: The juxtaposition of the degree of difficulty for Tyree’s catch and his career achievements against the degree of difficulty for Welker’s attempted catch and his career achievements may just make my head and laptop simultaneously catch on fire.

I considered placing Eli in the group with Rodgers and Brees, but because of his inconsistency, I just don’t feel like he’s on their level even with two rings. Those two seasons are the only times Eli has ever won any playoff games in his career (he’s won 0 in the other six years he’s been the starter) and he led the NFL in picks as recently as a year and a half ago.

Tom Brady should have five Super Bowl championships to his name. As it stands he has three, with two Super Bowl MVPs, all of which required him to engineer a fourth quarter comeback.

The NFL players around the league just voted Aaron Rodgers as the best player in football. Tom Brady came in fourth, but clocked in at #1 in last year’s vote. Based on how last season ended, he’s still numero uno in my book. And seeing as how the Patriots reloaded yet again this summer, Tom Terrific could easily be playing in his sixth Super Bowl, a would be NFL record, come February.

What do you think of the 2012-13 HHSR NFL Super Team? Can you come up with a better group of players? Let us know what you think!