Angry Pope
All Raider
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Talented roster includes 21 Pro Bowlers
John Clayton
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 year. Jammal Brown wins the right tackle job, even though the Saints are moving him to left tackle this season. Brown, a first-round pick in 2005, looked dominating at times as a rookie at right tackle. Brown, Snee and Steinbach eat up only $3.4 million of the cap, and give the team the chance to have a starting lineup of five potential Pro Bowl blockers.
cont'd...
John Clayton
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 year. Jammal Brown wins the right tackle job, even though the Saints are moving him to left tackle this season. Brown, a first-round pick in 2005, looked dominating at times as a rookie at right tackle. Brown, Snee and Steinbach eat up only $3.4 million of the cap, and give the team the chance to have a starting lineup of five potential Pro Bowl blockers.
cont'd...
