NFL All-Time Fantasy Draft

Whenever I can combine history and football into a project, I am a happy man. Fantasy football provides a wonderful opportunity to enjoy both passions and makes me ecstatic.

Last summer (2019), I eagerly devoured The League: How Five Rivals Created and Launched a Sports Empire by John Eisenberg. The page-turner revealed the captivating chronicle of five founders (Art Rooney, George Hallas, Tim Mara, George Preston Williams and Bert Bell) of the NFL during the Roaring Twenties and Great Depression. The diverse quintuplet overcame personal hardship and financial challenges to create the most popular sport in America.

Next on my list to read (2020) is Collision of Wills: Johnny Unitas, Don Shula, and the Rise of the Modern NFL by Jack Gilden. After coach Shula’s unfortunate passing, I wanted a tome of the winningest coach in NFL history and chose an era before Shula traveled south to Miami. The Hall of Famer stands among the coaching elite after leading Miami and Baltimore to six Super Bowls and guiding the Dolphins to an unbeaten season in 1972, which still remains the gold standard in the league. I can’t wait to begin reading about Johnny Unitas, Shula and the Sixties.

While reminiscing about the former Dolphins coach, it dawned on me to hold an All-Time Fantasy Football Draft. First, I needed to answer a few questions: Who is in the All-Time player pool? Can Sammy Baugh, Sid Luckman and Don Hudson be compared to Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson and Michael Thomas? It seemed senseless to even think of including all players from a century of professional football. Therefore, I cut the years in half to include competitors from the beginning of the Super Bowl era in 1966 to 2017.

And the last query: Who would participate with me? I posted a Tweet asking for football diehards to embark on the journey with me, and in less than 12 hours, 11 fanatics accepted the challenge:

The All-Pro Participants (and Draft Order):

1. Justin Carter

2. Ricky Valero

3. Rick Bates

4. Matt Rust

5. Mitch Hardt

6. Kevin Brown

7. Anthony Cervino

8. Dennis Bennett

9. Ryan Cearfoss

10. John Laub

11. Donald Giebel

12. Casey Arnold

All-Time Fantasy Draft Link

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gNOEduyQmv2P3XSKZFqVa4pNs4s9x7GSMo0fPDycTeA/edit#gid=1649380671

Post-draft Analysis

1. Break down your draft strategy and team roster.

“I had the No. 3 pick overall. One of the battles I had with myself was draft strategy. In a current-seasonal mindset, we tend to wait a bit for a quarterback. Would that be the way to go for this draft? I didn't think so. The reason why we wait longer in our regular seasonal leagues is usually because of a perceived shortage at other positions, usually running back, where we have to load up on them early. But in this format, there were always going to be great Hall of Fame quality players available. So, I knew at the No. 3 spot, I needed a difference maker, and that's why I went with Dan Marino. 

Then the other battle with myself was fighting against my personal memory bias with real statistical analysis. I tended to go with my holistic memory—Dan Marino chucking the ball all over the place for years—instead of actually looking things up, like total yards passed, TDs, etc. I guess in the end, I wanted a team of big-time names from my memory bias. Sometimes I got them, Marino, Dick Butkus, Alan Page, Priest Holmes, Mean Joe Green. Occasionally, I got solid players of lesser name—Roger Craig, Kellen Winslow and Mike Haynes.”

— Rick Bates

“My strategy was simple for this draft: Either, I was going to select an All-Time great Hall of Fame type player or I was going to take a player with significant name value. I wanted to build a team that when somebody from age 30 to 50 looked at the roster, they would say damn those guys were good, I remember having them on my team.” 

— Kevin Brown

“My initial strategy going into the draft was to go for the best player available. With that in mind, I took the quarterback early (rounds 2 and 3) to make sure to lock up the position. Tom Brady was a no-brainer with his track record, and Steve Young was one of the original mobile signal callers, which gave him huge fantasy upside. 

With the runs on receiver and running backs early, I pivoted to linebacker in round 4 taking the first defensive player off the board to try to get an advantage in the tackle category with Ray Lewis. At the running back and receiver spot, I tried to mix overall production with higher-points per game production. With defense at the other linebacker spot and defensive line, I gravitated towards sack production. At defensive back, I focused on safeties with high tackle numbers.”

— Ryan Cearfoss

“When John Laub was looking for participants for his All-Time Fantasy Football Team project, I jumped all over it. While I love fantasy, I am an NFL junkie dating back to when I was a little kid. So when a chance to draft an All-Time team came about, I could not pass it up.

However, this was a fantasy draft in which I participated with my heart more so a clear-cut strategy. While I am fine with selecting Emmitt Smith and Calvin Johnson with my first two selections—some of the finest players at their respective positions—I do believe I went quarterback too early, snagging John Elway in the third. Elway was alluring because, in today's NFL, he could almost be at the Patrick Mahomes level or better in terms of his skill set as a passer and rusher. Elway is also a proven winner, which doesn't mean much in fantasy, but it is a trait that is hard to overlook for me personally. At quarterback No. 2, I waited until the backend of the draft and found immense fantasy value with Randall Cunningham. Also, a player who could work in today's game.

Another position I targeted way too early and was most certainly a pick from the heart was at tight end with Shannon Sharpe. Even with Rob Gronkowski still, on the board, I'm a big Shay Shay guy. Not only did he dominate on the field and with the exception of Kellen Winslow, changed the tight end position forever due to his skill set as a receiver. Yet, Sharpe also dominated with his mouth, which he still does to this day on his sports talk show.

The remaining offensive personnel I can also live with. Jerome Bettis and Eddie George at running back were both bruising contact backs who were volume and scoring machines. My receivers behind Calvin Johnson are nothing to scoff at either. Andre Reed, Derrick Mason, and Roddy White could hold it down in fantasy especially in today's NFL.

With my defensive selections, I absolutely killed it. Ronnie Lott and Antonio Winfield were both tackling machines on the back end while Charles Hayley, Jared Allen, and Demarcus Ware were three of the top pass rushers to ever play in the league. And perhaps my biggest value pick was Mike Singletary, who went as the fifth linebacker off the board. Overall, I love my team. In fantasy, it may not be one of those units who will dominate, but they will certainly get me into the playoffs where anything can happen.”

— Anthony Cervino

“I knew coming in that I could get good value (at least average points wise) later in the draft. In the first two rounds, I went with Terrell Owens and Peyton Manning, two of the top players at their positions in my eyes. I also ended up with Reggie White, who I believe to be a Top Two defensive lineman, so I was happy to get three Top 5 players at their positions.

I also saw wide receiver as the deepest position in the draft. I chose to address running back first and targeted guys who had a dominant stretch of seasons. Once the top tight ends were gone, I decided to wait it out and see who was left at the end. Greg Olson was not a sexy pick, but he has had a very productive and somewhat unheralded career based on the numbers. I have a very balanced roster, and don't see any glaring holes.” 

— Donald Giebel

“Coming into the draft, I had just read an article about drafting a team based on the single greatest season of any player so when this draft started I wanted to focus on both total points and average per season since this was a ‘career’ fantasy draft.

My idea would be to rank the Top 50 or so players at each position and compare their career totals to the points per game averages. When the totals were close, I would choose the guy with the best average. For example, Frank Gore is sixth all-time but is forty-first in ppg.  I knew he wouldn’t be on my team.

Getting QB Drew Brees really set up my strategy: Scores a ton and per game is outstanding. By adding Aaron Rodgers and his No. 1 average, this gave me the best QBs in the league. At RB, I went with Marshal Faulk in Round 1 over LaDainian Tomlinson. More of a preference pick as Faulk scored 50 more points in his career but at a slightly smaller average. I loved Faulk so I went with him. With my other two backs, I waited until the last two rounds. Forte falling that far was criminal as he is 17th all-time at running back in total points and 14th in average. Forte was really always a little underrated. I went with Earnest Byner last instead of Billy Sims to get some extra points, although Sims was probably the better call.

At wide receiver and tight end, I invested early in Tony Gonzalez. His total points are almost two Top 5 tight ends COMBINED. Just a steal. I really like all of my receivers equally for where I got them. Again, Brandon Marshall falling to 77th overall was quite a value.”

— Mitch Hardt

“Similar to a redraft, I was going to invest heavily in the running back position and targeted elite pass catchers with over 400 career receptions and 10,000 yards rushing…Bazinga! I acquired Walter Payton, Curtis Martin and Ricky Watters among my first five picks: The three former stars combined for 41,470 rushing yards and 1,443 receptions. At quarterback, I sought two Top Ten players in passing yards and touchdowns, and Brett Favre and Eli Manning fulfilled the criteria.

On defense, I wanted to double-dip in back-to-back rounds to amass my IDP starters. In Rounds 7 and 8, I grabbed linebackers (Junior Seau and Derrick Brooks), and in Rounds 11 and 12, I selected defensive linemen (Michael Strahan and Richard Dent). I waited until my final two picks to acquire my defensive backs (Ken Riley and Eric Weddle).”

— John Laub

“For my draft strategy, it wasn’t so much a plan as it was mostly just remembering guys who tore it up on Tecmo Bowl Super Bowl for many. Other times, I would review lists of the Top 100 by position to get some ideas on who to draft.” 

— Matt Rust

“My initial plan was not to go three straight wide receivers, but I couldn't help it with the value that was at hand. Randy Moss was an easy selection for me at the second-overall pick. Nonetheless, coming back around at the bottom of round two and seeing Antonio Brown available was insane. He was a PPR-monster and pairing him with Chris Carter, I was locked and loaded at the position out of the gate.

I was hoping to get a little more involved in the running game early, but those receiver values changed my roster building strategy. I was very pleased at the running back position. Shaun Alexander was a prodigious producer of points, so pairing him with Steven Jackson made the running backs’ slots rock solid. Quarterbacks, I went with Matt Ryan to start because he is one of the most underrated and consistent Fantasy signal callers of all-time. I snagged Cam Newton as well based on his rushing touchdown numbers, which are the best of all-time. Overall, I am rather pleased with my roster and how it filled out towards the end defensively, and even adding the GOAT in Adam Vinatieri was a nice touch.”

— Ricky Valero

“I'm a RB guy at heart. I stuck to that philosophy with three runners in my first three picks: O.J. Simpson, Tony Dorsett, and Chuck Foreman. Peak Simpson saw him put up 7,699 yards rushing with 45 touchdowns in five seasons—those were 14-game crusades too. Tony Dorsett put up eight 1,000-yard seasons with almost 400 catches. Touchdown Tony opened his career with five straight 1,000-yard seasons and 177 receptions. Chuck Foreman is the least known guy in the group. Growing up a Lions’ fan and watching Foreman put it on my team, I knew I had to get him in this draft. From 1975-1977, he rushed for 3,337 yards, caught 164 passes, and scored 45 times. 

My receiving group is a mixture of classic and new. Isaac Bruce from the Greatest Show on Turf and AJ Green are the more recent guys. Bruce had a stretch from 1999-2003 with over 4,700 yards and 33 touchdowns. Green opened his career with five straight 1,000-yard seasons. Irving Fryar was a low-volume deep threat for the early part of his career. However, in season seven, the volume increased, and he put up over 1,000-yards in five of the next seven years. Grabbing my fourth WR in round 16 was a bit dicey, so I went old school grabbing the Green Giant, Harold Carmichael of the Eagles. At 6-foot-8 and 240 pounds, Carmichael stood out at receiver. Carmichael put up seven WR1 seasons in thirteen years with the Eagles. I rounded out my receiving corps with TE Antonio Gates: Did you know he played basketball in college? Gates played a long time and put up some great seasons for both the Chargers and many fantasy teams.

On to quarterback to wrap up the offense. I double tapped the position in the ninth and tenth rounds. First grabbing one of the original scramblers Fran Tarkenton. His mobility allowed him to buy some time to get the ball down field, and when no one was available, he ran, putting up over 300 yards per season rushing his first ten years in the league. I then grabbed Jim Kelly of the Bills. Kelly would likely rank a little higher had he not started his career in the USFL.

The defense was a little more difficult. Tackles and sack statistics are harder to come by for the older players. I grabbed my first defensive player in the sixth round, LB London Fletcher. The linebacker logged 1,384 tackles, 39 sacks, and 23 interceptions across a 16-year career. I grabbed Cornelius "Biscuit" Bennett in round 15. Almost 1,200 tackles, 71.5 sacks, and 31 forced fumbles, he was a force to be reckoned with during his NFL tenure.

At defensive line, I went contemporary with JJ Watt and Warren Sapp. Watt has missed the equivalent of two full seasons in his nine-year career and still has 96 sacks. Sapp recorded almost 600 tackles as a defensive tackle and 96.5 sacks. He was Aaron Donald, before there was an Aaron Donald. Closing out the defense with the defensive backs. I went old school again with Minnesota safety Paul Krause. Krause, who retired in 1979, still holds the NFL record for career interceptions with 81. I just couldn't pass that up. Ball hawk Ed Reed is my other backfield mate. 5,434 solo tackles and 64 interceptions in 14 years…Not too bad. Lastly, I went with Stephen Gostkowski at kicker. Gostkowski has the highest points per game average of any of the kickers drafted at 8.7 ppg.”

— Dennis Bennett

“My strategy in this was to focus on total fantasy points scored, not average FPPG, to build a lineup of guys who had sustained success. This was made much easier by having the first-pick overall, which I used on Jerry Rice because he's Jerry Rice, and his fantasy numbers blew away every other wide receiver in the game.

I also wanted to get running back out of the way fairly quickly—I had all three of mine (Edgerrin James, Thurman Thomas, Warrick Dunn) by the sixth round. I was one of two teams that waited a long time on their second quarterback, hoping to use the old once everyone else has one, I can wait until the last round for mine and gain a positional edge elsewhere strategy, which worked out well in theory, though I'm not sold on my own ability to draft defensive players in the late rounds, as I think I probably could have done a little more digging. But hey, I ended up with a well-rounded team that I really like.”

— Justin Carter

2. Identify the one team that you would switch places with after the draft?

“I think I like Mitch Hardt's team. It is the best on paper, and then looking at the scoring averages, I see that it was the winner!”

— Rick Bates

“I like Mitch's team a lot. Mitch sniped me on Willie McGinest in round 15 causing me to pivot to Cornielus Bennett. The value with Matt Forte in round 16 was fantastic.”

— Dennis Bennett

“I really like what John did—Ricky Watters and James Lofton were both guys I was targeting in this draft, and he also put together a great defensive lineup without sacrificing offense, but I think that roster comes in a close second to Mitch's team, which was so strong top to bottom. Mitch decided to wait until the end to take his second and third running backs, smartly betting that we'd all fill up that position quickly and that it was deeper than we thought. He was right, getting Matt Forte and Earnest Byner in the last two rounds, which allowed him to build the rest of his team up stronger. He led this draft in both total fantasy points and average fantasy points, so that strategy really paid off for him.”

— Justin Carter

“Ricky Valero put a team together that I like the most. The quarterbacks were, and have been, great for all of my fantasy playing years. His runners are absolute studs led by Hershel Walker. With Randy Moss, Antonio Brown, and Travis Kelce, who wouldn’t want this team!”

— Kevin Brown 

“I love Kevin Brown's team: He grabbed LaDainian Tomlinson in the first round, which induced pure jealousy. He was able to land high production at the receiver position with a sneaky good pick in Wes Welker who could be forgotten with some of the big-time players taken in this draft. He was able to make a really good team just by keeping it in more recent eras, which made it impressive.”

— Ryan Cearfoss

“If I can swap teams with anyone, I would probably switch with Mitch Hardt. While I am not in love with his defensive assets, he doesn't have a weak spot on offense and also has a ton of depth at each position: Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, Earnest Byner, Marshall Faulk, Matt Forte, Andre Johnson, Tony Gonzalez, Jimmy Smith, Brandon Marshall, Anquan Boldin with John Carney as his kicker. Yes, please. And maybe I am also being a little harsh about his defense considering he is carrying Willie McGinest, Jessie Tuggle and Deacon Jones.”

— Anthony Cervino

“The team I would change places with is Kevin Brown. What a fun team! Kurt Warner, from the Greatest Show on Turf, Michael Vick, Lawrence Taylor, BIG Earl Campbell, Marvin Harrison and Julio Jones were all major targets of mine. He seemed to snipe more picks from me than anyone.”

— Donald Giebel

“All-in-all, I love my team but if I were to swap squads with someone it would be Ricky Valero. He waited on QBs, (almost always smart) and landed Matt Ryan and Cam Newton. Very solid. Randy Moss, Antonio Brown, Chris Carter, Shaun Alexander and Steven Jackson?!?!?!  This guy has a monster team. By the numbers, I got him, but by my eyes, I think he won.”

— Mitch Hardt

“If I had to switch teams with anyone it would be Kevin Brown’s team. Kevin having LaDainian makes me slightly jealous. He was my favorite all-time fantasy player.”

— Matt Rust

“Mitch hands down selected my favorite team, I am envious of what he has at the quarterback position and top that off with one of the best runners in Fantasy history with Marshall Faulk. He is strong at the wide receiver position and is heavy on the defense. Top to bottom one of, if not, the best team.”

— Ricky Valero 

3. Any additional thoughts or insights after the Draft?

“Whenever people do one of the ‘the greatest’ type lists (movies, songs, shows, sports players), it's interesting to see how different folks think when they define ‘greatest.’ I think for the activity that we did this week, some of us thought total fantasy points measure greatness—as in look at what they did over their career—but others valued the average per year as a more meaningful measure of fantasy greatness.”

— Rick Bates

“This was a great time. I enjoyed looking at a lot of guys from my youth, though I am reminded it's tough growing up a Detroit Lions fan.” 

— Dennis Bennet

“This was a ton of fun, and it got me thinking about older players. I've done a lot of these kinds of drafts for basketball, which has helped me learn about older NBA and WNBA players who I didn't know as much about; doing a football version of this was just as useful in terms of getting me thinking about the past, plus it was a ton of fun!”

—Justin Carter

“This draft was an absolute blast to do and it was a great reminder of some stars in NFL history between seeing other peoples' picks and researching for my own. In retrospect, I wish I would have waited on quarterback with the amount of production QB's in the 2000s had on a game to game basis. Even Eli Manning averaged more than some all-time greats. Doing this again, I would have focused on receivers in those spots because that position dried up quickly with starting four on our roster. Last of all, I just want to thank John Laub for setting this up.”

— Ryan Cearfoss

“This was a fun and fulfilling project that I would love to do again.”

— Anthony Cervino

“I had a great time overall. My youth may show a little bit in my selections, but I still feel like I was able to put together a very deep, solid team. Thanks again John, and if you are ever looking at doing drafts like this in the future, I will definitely be interested.”

— Donald Giebel

“The worst picks of my team came on defense. I picked Jesse Tuggle too early and found stats on Randy Gradishar after that pick. The former Broncos tackler was better. As I usually do with IDPs, I went with men that get tackles. Eugene Robinson and Antoine Bethea were vastly overlooked…just like they were in their playing days. This draft certainly brought back many memories. The three-touchdown game that Faulk had his opening night to the many calls of Chris Berman and Ricky Running Waters. Great players, great memories and even greater new friends.”

— Mitch Hardt

“Unfortunately, my wide receiver corps is not as strong as other teams. I waited too long to fill the four roster spots: I should have invested in a fourth playmaker earlier. My starters are Tim Brown, Steve Smith, James Lofton and Andre Rison, who combined for 3,632 catches for 53,874 yards and 344 touchdowns.

Also, I got sniped a couple of times that drove me crazy. Five players—DE Bruce Smith (5), QB Fran Tarkenton (9), DE Chris Doleman (11), K Adam Vinatieri (13) and TE Greg Olsen (14)—were at the top of my queue when another owner grabbed my guy. Finally, I drafted based on total fantasy points scored during a players’ career not fantasy points per game. If I ever partake in a similar simulation, I might rank players on a FPPG scale like my friend Mitch.”

— John Laub

“For my last thoughts I’d love to take every player’s best season and see what a total points scored for each team would look like. See who came in first but that would take a while to compile. Again, thanks to John for doing this. It was a blast in between the stress of work and Covid-19.”

— Matt Rust

“I had an absolute blast doing this draft. I think my strategy might change a little if I did this again as I think I went a little top-heavy on the receiver position. But value-wise, I couldn't resist the WR that fell into my laps in the early part of the draft.”

— Ricky Valero 

All-Time Draft Parameters

Draft: 17 Rounds

Rosters:

2 QBs, 3 RBs, 4 WRs, 1 TE, 2 Defensive Line, 2 Linebackers, 2 Defensive Backs and 1 Kicker

Scoring for Offense:

Passing TDs = 4 points

Rushing and Receiving TDs = 6 points

Receptions = 1 point

Rushing yard = .1 points

Passing yard = .04 points

Kickers = total points scored

Scoring for IDP Players:

Sacks = 3 points

Fumble Recovery and INT = 2 points

1 point for a tackle and 1/2 for assisted tackle

All Special Teams and Defensive TDs = 6 points