Watching MNF and started thinking about the journeys of each player. Made me think…what if you had to build and NFL franchise of current & retired players but could only pick players that were born or grew up in your home state?
I’m from Texas (duh), so I limited the list to people that were born in and played their whole high school career in Texas. Strahan was technically a military brat born in Germany but his family is from TX and he played high school and college ball in Texas, so it made sense to include him. Center, guard and tight end didn’t feel the strongest. I focused on mostly on guys that were either HoF or close enough. Tried to mix old school and new school players but didn’t dig that deep. If we can find more o-line depth, I like our chances being able to run the ball A LOT and then set up play-action. The defense is going to be nasty…
QB - Patrick Mahomes, Drew Brees, Sammy Baugh
RB - Eric Dickerson, LaDainian Tomlinson, Earl Campbell, Adrian Peterson
FB - Larry Centers
WR - Tim Brown, Mike Evans, Cliff Branch, Raymond Berry, Don Maynard, Charley Taylor
TE - ??
T - Forrest Gregg, Richmond Webb, Jason Peters
C - Bulldog Turner
G - Gene Upshaw
DE - Michael Strahan, Harvey Martin, Von Miller
DT - Joe Greene, Bob Lily, John Randle, Sam Adams
LB - Mike Singletary, Tommy Nobis, Zach Thomas
CB - Dick “Night Train” Lane, Darrell Green, Mel Renfro, Mike Haynes, Emmitt Thomas
S - Earl Thomas III, Ken Houston
P - Shane Lechler
K - Matt Stover
Coaches - Tom Landry, Jimmy Johnson
California:
QB: Brady, Rodgers, Elway
RB: Marcus Allen and OJ Simpson
FB: Lorenzo Neal
WR: Steve Smith Sr, James Lofton, Davonte Adams
TE: Tony Gonzalez
OT: Anthony Munoz, Gary Zimmerman/Tyron Smith
OG: Larry Allen, Ron Mix
C: Bruce Matthews
Edge: Jared Allen, Clay Matthews Jr and III
IDL: Jurell Casey, La’Roi Glover
Linebacker: Junior Seau, Bobby Wagner
Corners: Richard Sherman, Dave Grayson
S: Ronnie Lott, Troy Polamalu
K: Nick Folk
P: Jeff Feagles
ST: Matthew Slater
Returner: Desean Jackson
Coach: Andy Reid