We are coming down the final stretch of the slowest part of the NFL calendar, and that means media folks are getting creative in their football content. The latest is a fun exercise from The MMQB.
Peter King brought together 12 people with major connections to the NFL to draft 26-man rosters from all of NFL history. The 12 individuals include a mix of NFL media, beat writers, executives, players, and other people who know the game of football as well as anybody. You can look through the entire list of picks here. Each team selected 25 players and one coach.
While they are great minds, there were plenty of curious decisions. The most curious right off the bat in my mind is Steve Young not getting selected. 12 quarterbacks were selected over the course of 26 rounds, and they included the following (in order):
- Johnny Unitas
- Tom Brady
- Otto Graham
- Joe Montana
- John Elway
- Roger Staubach
- Peyton Manning
- Terry Bradshaw
- Aaron Rodgers
- Brett Favre
- Dan Marino
- Troy Aikman
These are all very talented quarterbacks, but enough to shut out Young from the mix?
There were plenty of 49ers in the draft. In fact, it appears more players had a 49ers connection than any other team. Some players were only there for a year or two, but factoring that in, there are 36 people (35 players + Bill Walsh) who spent time with the 49ers.
Here’s the full list of 49ers, in order of selection. I’m surprised coaches went at the end. I suppose with the kind of talented players out there, it’s not entirely shocking, but would you prefer Bill Walsh or Troy Aikman? Would you want someone like Bill Belichick or Richard Sherman? It seems like some coaches might be worth a bit more than some of these later round player picks.
- Joe Montana, QB
- Jerry Rice, WR
- Ronnie Lott, CB/S
- O.J. Simpson, RB
- Deion Sanders, CB
- Larry Allen, OG
- Rod Woodson, CB
- Charles Haley, OLB/DE
- Richard Dent, DE
- Joe Perry, RB
- Jimmy Johnson, CB
- Randy Moss, WR
- Fred Dean, DE
- Chris Doleman, DE
- Bob Hayes, WR
- Bob St. Clair, OT
- Dave Wilcox, LB
- John Henry Johnson, RB
- Rickey Jackson, LB
- Kevin Greene, LB
- Bryant Young, DT
- Patrick Willis, LB
- Leo Nomellini, OT/DT
- Roger Craig, RB
- Hugh McElhenny, RB
- Jacob Greene, P
- Terrell Owens, WR
- Hardy Brown, OL/LB
- Howard Mudd, OG
- Reggie Roby, P
- Tommy Davis, K/P
- Gary Anderson, K
- Gary Johnson, DT
- Andy Lee, P
- Isaac Bruce, WR
- Bill Walsh, Coach