Checkdowns: 2009 All-Pro selections by the Associated Press
Posted by Chase Stuart on January 14, 2010
Today, the AP announced its selections for the All-Pro roster of 2009. All-Pro selections are a big component of the Approximate Value system here at P-F-R, and always play a role in Hall of Fame debates. You can see the voting breakdown here, but the results are:
FIRST TEAM
OFFENSE
Quarterback — Peyton Manning, Indianapolis.
Running Backs — Chris Johnson, Tennessee; Adrian Peterson, Minnesota.
Fullback — Leonard Weaver, Philadelphia.
Tight End — Dallas Clark, Indianapolis.
Wide Receivers — Andre Johnson, Houston; Wes Welker, New England.
Tackles — Ryan Clady, Denver; Joe Thomas, Cleveland.
Guards — Steve Hutchinson, Minnesota; Jahri Evans, New Orleans.
Center — Nick Mangold, New York Jets.
Placekicker — Nate Kaeding, San Diego.
Kick Returner — Joshua Cribbs, Cleveland.
DEFENSE
Ends — Jared Allen, Minnesota; Dwight Freeney, Indianapolis.
Tackles — Jay Ratliff, Dallas; Kevin Williams, Minnesota.
Outside Linebackers — Elvis Dumervil, Denver; DeMarcus Ware, Dallas.
Inside Linebacker — Patrick Willis, San Francisco; Ray Lewis, Baltimore.
Cornerbacks — Charles Woodson, Green Bay; Darrelle Revis, New York Jets.
Safeties — Darren Sharper, New Orleans; Adrian Wilson, Arizona.
Punter — Shane Lechler, Oakland.
SECOND TEAM
OFFENSE
Quarterback — Drew Brees, New Orleans.
Running Backs — Ray Rice, Baltimore; Steven Jackson, St. Louis.
Fullback — Le'Ron McClain, Baltimore.
Tight End — Antonio Gates, San Diego.
Wide Receivers — Reggie Wayne, Indianapolis; Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona.
Tackles — Michael Roos, Tennessee; Jake Long, Miami.
Guards — Logan Mankins, New England; Kris Dielman, San Diego.
Center — Andre Gurode, Dallas.
Placekicker — David Akers, Philadelphia.
Kick Returner — DeSean Jackson, Philadelphia.
DEFENSE
Ends — Trent Cole, Philadelphia; Julius Peppers, Carolina.
Tackles — Darnell Dockett, Arizona; Haloti Ngata, Baltimore.
Outside Linebackers — Brian Cushing, Houston; LaMarr Woodley, Pittsburgh.
Inside Linebackers — David Harris, New York Jets; Jon Beason, Carolina.
Cornerbacks — Nnamdi Asomugha, Oakland; Asante Samuel, Philadelphia, and Leon Hall, Cincinnati (tie).
Safeties — Brian Dawkins, Denver; Ed Reed, Baltimore, and Nick Collins, Green Bay (tie).
Punter — Andy Lee, San Francisco, and Donnie Jones, St. Louis (tie).
Chris Johnson was the only unanimous selection. Kevin Williams has the longest current streak (4) while Ray Lewis extended his career record among active players to seven.
UPDATE: Here are the Sporting News All-Pro teams as well: Offense/Defense
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January 14th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
I'd like to know why people think All-Pros are so much better than the pro-bowl. Based on these choices, I think the writers know just as much as the fans who clog the PB ballot boxes.
Mike Scifres and Vincent Jackson's absence is disappointing. Antonio Gates and Dallas Clark should be flip-flopped. I'm a fan of SD & MIN, but Dielman and Hutch weren't that great this year (well, Hutch was good in pass-protection, but he wasn't last year, so it could just be Favre getting the ball out sooner -- whole MIN line sucked at run blocking though)
They probably just want to include as many skill players as possible, but there shouldn't be 2 HB for each team. Sure, teams may use 2 RB, but then you should take away a FB or TE or WR.
January 14th, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Why is the Pro-Bowl less meaningful?
All-Pro has 2 squads, 26 first team, 28 second. So far the Pro Bowl has 45 players for each conference, with another 10 or more due as players drop out, either for injury, inconvenience, or being in the Super Bowl.
Sometimes it comes down to who answers the phone.
Having 3 RBs doesn't bug me. Since there are 4 DL & 4 LBs, I guess they're playing 12 on 12.
January 14th, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Scifres is a tremendous punter but 48 out of the 50 voters who picked Lechler can't all be wrong either. Lechler's 51.1 avg (modern era best) and 43.9 net avg (new NFL record) deserves to be recognised. Any Lee and Donnie Jones got the other votes. Ben Graham had a better year than Scifres too with an incredible 42-3 Inside 20-Touchback ratio..
While I agree V.Jackson should have been a Pro Bowler, it would have been awfully tough making 1st team All-Pro. Wayne and Fitzgerald were 2nd team All-Pro. Wes Welker was a good choice imo. The Patriots were just not the same team without him this season and Wes could have broken M.Harrison's seemingly unbreakable receptions record had he stayed healthy for 16 games.
Antonio Gates was 2nd team All-Pro. Vernon Davis was unlucky to miss out on recognition in such a strong year for TEs.
Offensive line always throws up 'reputation picks'. Hutchinson from what I hear was not at his best this season.
January 14th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
I just ran a search and Ray Lewis, at age 34, becomes just the 3rd ILB/MLB to be named all-pro at age 34 or older. Bill George was 34 in 1963 and the late Sam Mills was a mind-boggling 37 years old in 1996!
January 14th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
Switch Michael Roos and Joe Thomas, and replace Ray Lewis with David Harris, and Kevin Williams or Jay Ratliff with Darnell Dockett. Those guys all made it on reputation and not performance.
Also, put Vernon Davis over Dallas Clark, Dallas can't block, and Vernon caught more touchdowns.
January 14th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
David Harris had a fine season but didn't his all-pro candidacy is definitely up for speculation. He had 8 games in which he had 4 or fewer solo tackles. He had ZERO tackles for loss this season and just 3 pass deflections (2 of which were on his interceptions).
Also, he has a negative rating against the run on profootballfocus.com.
Yes, he had 5.5 sacks but that isn't enough to be a 1st team all pro. However, he did make 2nd team all pro and fans of his should be ecstatic for that after his pro bowl snub (should have gotten in over Ryans).
I also think that Bart Scott, who has been overshadowed by Harris's raw numbers, had a great season with 10 tackles for loss and did much of the dirty work to allow Harris to put up some numbers.
January 14th, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Johnny,
As a Jets fan, I'll say that David Harris was much better than Bart Scott this year. The numbers may not back it up, so maybe I'm wrong, but it seemed like Scott was out of position/missing tackles much more frequently this year. Scott also, in my view which the numbers may not back up, had a bunch of penalties while Harris did not.
January 14th, 2010 at 5:52 pm
Chase,
I did the research and so far this season:
Scott: 4 penalties called, 9 missed tackles, 11 qb pressures, 12 qb hits, 11 tackles for loss, 50 stops, 1 pd.
Harris: 3 penalties called, 10 missed tackles, 7 qb hits, 8 qb pressures, 0 tackles for loss 46 stops, 3 pd.
Scott played much better than his raw numbers indicate and did a lot of dirty work.
Their profootballfocus.com scores are Scott 6.8 and Harris 3.2
I'm not saying that Harris didn't have a big season but besides his 5.5 sacks, he numbers are just decent (85 solos, 2 int, 3 pd) in the 17 games he has played so far.
I think Harris should have made the Pro Bowl over Ryans but he still has room for improvement.
January 14th, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Best pick: Jahri Evans. It's no easy task to notice good guard play, but Evans was head and shoulders above the rest this year.
Bad picks:
1. Dallas Clark over Antonio Gates or Jason Witten. Gates is better from a purely receiving stand point, and Witten's the best all-around tight end.
2. Wes Welker over Vincent Jackson or Sidney Rice. No doubt Welker's a master at what he does, but Randy Moss opens up so many things for that offense. Welker probably not among top 10 WRs.
3. Ryan Clady? Is this a makeup for last year? Still, a tough call, but Jake Long quietly did a real solid job protecting a first-year starter. (Roos good, but not as good as last year; could make a case for Stewart, and at least he's a RT.)
4. Steve Hutchinson over Chris Snee. Hutchinson gets it on reputation and not performance. Snee maybe not as good as in 07 or 08, but still does a great job.
5. Kaeding over Sebastian Janikowski. Maybe a push in terms of FGs, but Janikowski had nearly twice as many touchbacks in almost half as many kickoffs.
6. Jared Allen over Trent Cole. Allen, a great end, but benefited from nationally televised games against backup tackles. Cole's not only a great pass rusher but made plenty of plays in the run game this year.
7. Dumervil over James Harrison, LaMarr Woodley, Anthony Spencer or Brian Cushing. Dumervil still too one-dimensional.
8. The entire second team. Not fair for AP to list second team unless they give voters the chance to list second team players and then assign points for first team or second team votes. Best (worst) example of this was in 2007 when one voter split his Tom Brady QB vote with Brett Favre thereby taking it upon himself to name Favre second team all-pro. Second team all-pro utterly baseless.
9. I've never been a fan of the two HB thing either. Or continuing to name a FB to the team. Wish they would vote 3 WRs or 2 TEs.
January 14th, 2010 at 10:20 pm
I disagree with some of the 1st-team choices, but most of them are at least reasonable. Lechler is a notable exception.
Some of the 2nd-team choices start to get weird. Brian Dawkins and Ed Reed? What is this, 2004? And with a couple of the guys who got 1 or 2 votes, the picks are just loony.
I like DeAngelo Williams, but he didn't lead his own team in rushing yards or TDs, and the Panthers went 3-0 without him. Shaun Phillips? Olindo Mare? And how did a combined 4 people leave Revis or Woodson off their ballots at CB?
http://www.sports-central.org/sports/2010/01/09/sports_centrals_2009_nfl_allpro_team.php
January 14th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
I beg to differ, I think Welker opens up more for Moss. Look at what the Patriots did without Welker in the four games including the playoffs. Moss didn't do much except for one of the four games. Welker deserved first team WR. Not sure Wayne deserved second team over Jackson.
January 15th, 2010 at 4:35 am
WR. 1st Team: A. Johnson, Miles Austin. 2nd Team: Sidney Rice, Moss. This is supposed to be about production, not reputation. Until Welker is the one teams scheme against, he can't be a top 2 wideout.
TE. Need to flip Gates and Clark.
RB. Ray Rice and AP switch spots.
Finally, they need to end with 2 practices I hate. First, you assign tackles based on their side. RT and LT are different positions, so why do they always pick 4 left tackles? Second, the AP needs to acknowledge the difference between the 4-3 and 3-4. Either assign separate 3-4 OLB spots or lump rush 3-4 backers in with 4-3 DEs.
January 15th, 2010 at 5:20 am
Dumervill isn't even one dimensional. I would love to see some numbers, but I would guess that about 8-10 of his 1 sacks are because of coverage.
Also: He leads the league in sacks, and has ZERO run tackles for loss. Yikes.
And this is a Broncos fan speaking...
January 15th, 2010 at 6:14 am
Four All-Pros for the Vikes. No other team has that much (Three is the next). Eight Pro Bowl players for Minnesota. No other team has that much - the next is six.
Yet all I hear about this week is how Dallas is going to walk in and defeat Minnesota on their own home turf and win the Super Bowl.
It is amazing to me how much press this Dallas team gets every year with their national exposure.
Aside from playing in the NFC East I cannot see anything that would justify the press's position that they (Dallas) are the "hottest team in the NFL." Um, San Diego has won 11 straight, including a win in Dallas.
I enter the playoffs every year hoping and praying that the best teams win and the very best wins it all. Seems like the media is on Dallas' side this year like almost every year. Shheeesh!!!
January 15th, 2010 at 9:38 am
They pick four left tackles because left tackles are generally better players than right tackles. Left tackle is a more important, higher-leverage position, so if your best run-blocker is also your best pass-blocker he will play at left tackle. Does anyone seriously think Jonathan Ogden would not have been the best right tackle in football if he played that side? Does anyone who actually plays right tackle do a better job there than Jake Long would if he was switched over?
Graham should have been the punter, but that was never going to happen given the numbers. The bias towards punters on bad teams is even stronger than the bias towards running backs on good teams, which is why everyone thinks Lechler has had a better career than Scifres (though this year he may have had the better season).
Frankly, I think I'd pick the second team to beat the first team straight up, if they played.
January 15th, 2010 at 9:53 am
Patrick W,
While I hear you on your main point, I think this year Dallas actually really is that good. They come out as the best team in football when I do my rating system of offensive/defensive rush/pass efficiency. Dallas, to me, at least this year, looks like the complete package.
January 15th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
Hard to knock your system Chase. It stood up well. Just hope Favre does the same, that's all.
January 15th, 2010 at 10:54 pm
Hey guys,
I know you track number of Pro Bowls also and I have a question on how that works. Welker was voted in, but he is hurt. So they took Moss to replace him, but he says he is hurt. Chad Ochocinco is in now. Which one of these guy(s) get credited with being a Pro-Bowler this season?
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4674220/moss-wont-play-in-pro-bowl-due-to-injury
January 15th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
Andrew,
All of them.
January 16th, 2010 at 12:07 am
My only issue with the Pro-Bowl is that it should be more than one fullback and strong safety. There are some really good fullbacks out there and it does no justice that only one fullback should go from each conference. The same should be said for strong safeties. As for the Minnesota line, if Brett Farve comes back I think that they will do a lot better next year with him. Because he is a gunslinger it will take some time to adjust to a different style from the one that they had in the past. I believe they will come around, but they will still lose to Dallas because they are playing sub-par football in every stage of the game because of the lousy coaching that is coming from Childress!
January 17th, 2010 at 9:04 pm
I beg to differ with the opinion of Welker opening things up for Moss. You ask any defensive game planner and ten out of ten times they will say it is Moss who they lose sleep over.
Saying that, I still have no problem with the selection. Welker deserves to be named to the All-Pro team. Just because Randy Moss is your teammate does not mean you will automatically have an easy time being effective and putting up gaudy stats. Just look at his receiving mates post Cris Carter. None of them did near what Welker has.