Posts tagged Build your own NFL Team

Matt Waldman’s Second RSP Writers Squad

An RSP Writers Team with Russell Wilson as the starting quarterback? You knew it was coming from me, didn’t you? Funny I had the belief to praise him and project him as a future starter, but was less confident about making him my guy until the preseason. Explanation below. Photo by Seth Youngblood.

This was actually my first squad, but admittedly I was a little uncomfortable going with so many first and second-year players as starters in my offense. As the summer played out, I see that perhaps my first inclination has as much or more promise as the team I published last month. The only changes I made to this squad since July were at guard and the defense. The offense is pretty much as I built it. I’ll call this my Rookie Scouting Portfolio Writers Team and the other team my Footballguys/Football Outisders squad. I have mad love for all three places, but couldn’t fill just one squad.

There are more RSP Writers Teams in the can that I’ll post as the season gets under way. You can go here for a complete look at the project, including the spreadsheet and rules so you can play at home. Continue reading

Ryan Booher’s RSP Reader’s Team

Who is this bird? Ryan Booher will give you the word as he reveals his RSP Readers Team, which will feature Diamond formation sets and West Coast/Spread Concepts. Photo by Jeffery Beall.

As promised, I’m posting reader-submitted teams for the RSP Writers Project. Ryan Booher has been excited about participating in this project for months now. He has delivered a fascinating roster filled with many players that I haven’t seen on teams submitted thus far. He’ll also be using the Diamond formation in a lot of base sets, which we might see a little bit in the NFL this year. Continue reading

Matt Waldman’s RSP Writer’s Team Q&A

How do you make A.J. Green even better? Make him work against Darrelle Revis in practice. Photo by Wade Rackley.(http://www.flickr.com/photos/tnjn/5064947481/sizes/l/in/photostream/)

I will have two teams in this project because I had too much fun just building one. I’m also learning too much from the process to build just one. If you’ve tried building a team, I think you know what I mean. However, I’ll make this squad my official roster despite how much I like the other team I’ll share later this month.

Offensive System

I’m implementing a system with a streamlined playbook and simple concepts that complement each other while hopefully using variations of plays that don’t force additional complexity with my blocking and route schemes. I want my quarterback to have enough freedom Continue reading

RSP Writers Project Q&A: DraftBreakdown.com’s Eric Stoner

From a stylistic and football smarts standpoint, there might not be a better model player for Denarius Moore to learn from than Randy Moss. Draft Breakdown’s Eric Stoner pairs the two on his depth chart. Photo by Wade Rackley.

There was a lot of quality football knowledge emanating from the roster presentations and interviews last week. Former All-Pac-10 offensive lineman and Football Outsider’s columnist Ben Muth gave a mini clinic on assembling and scheming a power running game when presenting his team. The Guardian’s Cian Fahey demonstrated the confidence to take on a reclamation project at quarterback and arm him with young talent at receiver, and complement the offensive with a dangerous defense. And Dynasty Rogues writer Nick Whalen, a former high school quarterback with stints at four colleges as a quarterbacks, wide receivers, and defensive backs assistant coach, delivered the ultimate change-up and opted to invoke Mary Schottenheimer’s physical, run-based offense.

I didn’t intend it to happen this way, but DraftBreakdown.com’s Eric Stoner begins the week of July Fourth with the most explosive offense we’ve seen at the RSP Writers Project to date. Ironically, Stoner wanted Continue reading

RSP Writers Roster: DraftBreakdown’s Eric Stoner

Eric Stoner’s RSP roster includes “the moveable chess piece,” Aaron Hernandez, who might be the team’s least dangerous receiving threat when it’s all said and done. Photo by Patriotworld.

Eric Stoner is a legal assistant by day, and a writer and video guy for DraftBreakdown.com for the remaining hours he’s awake. He specializes in quarterback evaluation. His YouTube videos are a quality service for football fans seeking more than the typical highlight packages that fans put together of college stars. Stoner’s videos are actually more like Continue reading

Writers Team: Nick Whalen’s RSP Squad, Dynasty Rogues

Nick Whalen’s RSP Writers Team

Eric Berry, Earl Thomas, and Patrick Willis headline a young and athletic defense for Ryan Whalen’s Readers Team. Whalen has assistant coaching experience with four different college teams. Photo by Wade Rackley.

Nick Whalen is a regular at the Footballguys.com message board and a guy I’ve corresponded with frequently over the years. He’s a writer at Dynasty Rogues. Whalen has a variety of experiences in football and he’s person I’ve enjoyed trading info.

A former high school quarterback, Whalen also has experience on coaching staffs as an assistant student coach with Drake University, Carthage College, and Montana State. He also spent two years as an assistant student coach with Western Kentucky. He has been a quarterback, wide receiver, and defensive back coach for three different high school teams.

His RSP Writer’s Team has one of the more Continue reading

The Guardian NFL Writer Cian Fahey’s RSP Writers Project Team

“Revis, you’ve been traded to Fahey’s team. His defense might be better than mine personnel-wise. But I hope you can have 15 pick-sixes, because they might need it if his offense doesn’t step up.” Photo by Marianne O’Leary.

Cian Fahey covers the NFL for The Guardian and he also writes for Irish Central and at one time contributed for The Bleacher Report. Fahey is a Steelers fan and also contributes toSteelers Depot. If you’ve never read his work or followed him on Twitter, he’s not afraid to give his unfiltered opinion. You’ll see that as he reveals his roster below.

I like a lot of Fahey’s choices on defense. I opted for Darrelle Revis yesterday when I finally began my revised version of my team. The idea of shutting down an entire side of the field or plastering 95 percent of the league’s receivers into utter uselessness is appealing. Where we differ is that Fahey is opting for a 3-4 scheme and I’m a 4-3 guy. On offense, Fahey and I both took a chance on tackle Charles Brown, who was a second-round pick of the Saints two years ago but injuries derailed his developmental opportunity to flourish as a starter. His production for eight games in 2011 makes hm a player I agree is a bargain.

As for his take on Dwight Lowery? Well, I suspect there’s a lot of love at Bleacher Report for the Jaguars safety. It’s one of the follow up questions Continue reading

My First Draft RSP Writers Team – Offensive Line

I have to protect this guy and give my runners every chance to succeed. I think my RSP Writers Project offensive line accomplishes that objective – and that’s an understatement. Photo by Angie Six

The Rookie Scouting Portfolio Football Writers Project is an all-star cast of football writers, former scouts, and draft analysts on the Internet. Their mission is to take a month to build a 53-man roster with a $160 million salary cap and present the team here. You can use the same information to build your own team (see the bottom of this post).

Last night, I unveiled the skill positions of a first-draft team. Today, I’m unveiling my offensive line. Remember, this is an initial draft and I will probably take a month to truly build my squad. However, I think it is valuable and entertaining to display a thought process behind building a team. Readers will hopefully gain this insight when I display other writer’s teams, but they won’t get the same process as I can offer leading to the final product.

I am already working on a second draft of the team I’m unveiling this week and there will be some major changes. However, I still think it is fun to show my initial version because it reveals a lot about building NFL teams. Why certain ideas are ingrained in the culture of coaches, general managers, scouts, and players.

If you didn’t read the skill position unveiling yesterday, Continue reading