[CBFF] 4 Bears on "Best Team Money Can Buy" (ESPN: Clayton)

Thu Jul 13 23:06:29 MDT 2006

And personally i didn't like the reference he made to
win the NFC North with his backups. Come on: this
division is not the weakest one in the league.
Look af the NFC West which didn't put up any winning
record last year, except Seahawks.
We at least had 2 teams with winning records.

What I do like is the common opinion that Green Bay
SUCKS BIG TIME. Always love hearing that

Jan
--- Jerry Madsen <jerrywm at gmail.com> wrote:

> After last season, I think he's reaching a bit on
> Peanut.
> 
> Jerry
> 
> On 7/13/06, Victor Waldron <victor19 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
>
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=clayton_john&id=2511045
> >
> > Talented roster includes 21 Pro Bowlers
> > By John Clayton
> > ESPN.com
> >
> > A few weeks ago, my editors asked me to assemble
> the best team that
> > could fit within the $102 million salary cap for
> the 2006 NFL season.
> >
> > Being a salary cap freak armed with a database of
> salaries and
> > contract breakdowns for 2,330 players, the
> assignment was easier than
> > imagined. Using a couple of simple salary cap
> philosophies I've
> > adopted from my years of covering the league, I
> was able to assemble
> > "The Best Team Money Can Buy" with very few
> adjustments. My total cap
> > number for 2006 was $100,822,220, leaving me more
> than $1 million
> > under the cap. But I had the ability to pull in
> top players from the
> > 2006 NFL draft, assemble an all-star special teams
> unit and have a
> > backup unit on offense and defense that could
> probably win the NFC
> > North.
> >
> > My 53-man roster has 21 Pro Bowlers, including 16
> starting position
> > players. The team features the league's trendiest
> receivers --
> > Cincinnati's Chad Johnson, Carolina's Steve Smith
> and Washington's
> > Santana Moss -- who offer great hands and
> exceptional
> > run-after-the-catch ability. It features the
> league's most talented
> > and versatile running back, San Diego's LaDainian
> Tomlinson, whose
> > work can be augmented at times by Falcons fullback
> Justin Griffith.
> > The team also has a game-breaking tight end in San
> Diego's Antonio
> > Gates. And the quarterback? Two-time league MVP
> Peyton Manning of the
> > Colts.
> >
> > Given $102 million of cap room to fill out a
> 53-man roster, there was
> > enough room to splurge on five Pro Bowl special
> teamers: Kansas City
> > returner Dante Hall, Colts kicker Adam Vinatieri,
> Raiders punter Shane
> > Lechler and coverage specialists Larry Izzo of the
> Patriots and David
> > Tyree of the Giants.
> >
> > The defense is built for speed and playmaking
> ability. Only in the Pro
> > Bowl could Indy's Bob Sanders and Pittsburgh's
> Troy Polamalu line up
> > as teammates. Thanks to easy cap management, they
> can play together on
> > this team and can freelance behind a defensive
> front seven featuring
> > the pass-rushing abilities of the Colts' Dwight
> Freeney and the
> > Chargers' Shawne Merriman, with Houston's Mario
> Williams filling in as
> > a backup.
> >
> > Perhaps the biggest fundamental concept that
> allows all of this to
> > work is an acceptable cap philosophy that isn't
> given much publicity.
> > The Cover 2 defense, employed by the Colts' Tony
> Dungy and several
> > other coaches, is a better system to work under
> the cap than the 3-4.
> > In the 3-4, teams must pay big money for at least
> a couple of starting
> > linebackers, a couple of defensive linemen, a
> hard-hitting strong
> > safety and for bigger, more physical cornerbacks.
> The Steelers'
> > starting 11 in the 3-4 defense totals around
> $34.88 million and the
> > Chargers' $30.6 million, while the Colts' starting
> 11 in the 4-3 is
> > $26 million.
> >
> > The Cover 2 in a 4-3 allows for a younger flow of
> players. Younger
> > usually means cheaper, but Cover 2 defensive
> coaches are accustomed to
> > grooming young linebackers with speed. The
> Seahawks, for example, went
> > to the Super Bowl with two rookie linebackers.
> Dungy has gone to the
> > playoffs year after year realizing he probably
> will lose a young
> > linebacker after his fourth season in the league.
> >
> > One of the reasons the Colts hired Dungy is the
> franchise knew its cap
> > was going to be dominated by offensive stars:
> Manning, Marvin
> > Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Brandon Stokley, etc.
> Because it's hard to
> > spend on both sides of the ball, something has to
> give. The Cover 2
> > allows for more flexibility as long as the team
> drafts well.
> >
> > Naturally, championship teams are built around
> quarterbacks. While it
> > can be debated forever whether New England's Tom
> Brady is better than
> > Manning, the salary cap made the decision simple
> for "The Best Team
> > Money Can Buy." Manning has run one of the
> league's top offenses since
> > the late 1990s and his cap number is $10.566
> million. Brady has a
> > $15.67 million cap hit. That difference freed up
> $5 million for four
> > of the top five linebackers: D.J. Williams of the
> Broncos, Lofa Tatupu
> > of the Seahawks, Lance Briggs of the Bears and
> Karlos Dansby of the
> > Cardinals.
> >
> > Though it was tough to separate Manning from his
> favorite receiver,
> > Harrison, the luxury of building a good young unit
> of pass catchers
> > was too tempting. Harrison is 34 and has a $6.4
> million cap number.
> > Johnson, Smith and Moss give Manning a trio of
> top-10 receivers who
> > averaged 95 catches, 1,492 yards and 10 touchdowns
> each in 2005. Yards
> > after the catch are so important because of the
> speed of defenses
> > these days. Getting three receivers who combined
> for a
> > 15.7-yards-per-catch average was too tempting to
> pass up.
> >
> > Plus, it's fun to see Smith and Johnson, former
> Santa Monica Junior
> > College teammates, together again.
> >
> > The offensive roster reads like the first round of
> a fantasy draft. At
> > halfback, I have Tomlinson, who has the ability to
> catch 100 passes or
> > rush for 1,800 yards. At tight end, Gates starts
> and is backed up by
> > Cardinals rookie Leonard Pope and Redskins
> H-back/tight end Chris
> > Cooley. Like the Colts, the team can switch to a
> two-tight end set and
> > be explosive, but its primary offensive formation
> will be three
> > receivers (Smith, Moss and Johnson), one tight end
> (Gates) and one
> > back (Tomlinson).
> >
> > It's almost impossible to assemble a fantasy team
> that talented, but
> > it's easy to do with $102 million to spend. In
> case a fullback is
> > needed for short-yardage and early-down running
> plays, Griffith is
> > available. He comes from the league's top rushing
> team and has a cap
> > number of $811,510.
> >
> > The offensive line has two current Pro Bowlers
> (Seattle left tackle
> > Walter Jones and Colts center Jeff Saturday) and
> features two of the
> > best young guards in the game (Eric Steinbach of
> the Bengals and Chris
> > Snee of the Giants). Steinbach and Snee were Pro
> Bowl alternates last
> 
=== message truncated ===

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