Pro Football Reference Blog

Just for fun, I decided to use my Approximate Value method to come up with a post-merger all-franchise team for each franchise. I’ll post them by division.

Previous Divisions:

NFC West
NFC South
AFC North
AFC East
NFC North

Here are the rules:

1. The AV systems gives a player a score for each player season. To combine these into a career number, I take 100% of the player’s best season, plus 95% of his second-best season, plus 90% of his third-best season, and so on.

2. I’m only comfortable (for now) applying the AV methodology to post-merger seasons. Players who debuted before the merger, however, are included if their post-merger seasons alone merit inclusion. In this case, they have a ‘+’ after their AV score to remind you that their career AV is (probably) higher than the number shown.

3. To avoid 4-3/3-4 issues, I gave each defense 12 players, including two DT/NTs, two DEs, two OLBs, and two ILB/MLBs.

4. Because of the slippery and changing nature of defining what a fullback is, I simply decided to go with two RB/FBs, instead of an RB and an FB.

As with most things AV-related, this series of posts is mostly just for fun, but I’m also curious to hear feedback from long-time followers of the teams about things that look fishy.

Dallas Cowboys

QB   Roger Staubach       102+
RB   Emmitt Smith         126
RB   Tony Dorsett         103
WR   Michael Irvin        105
WR   Drew Pearson          78
TE   Billy Joe DuPree      58
T    Rayfield Wright       83+
T    Erik Williams         71
G    Larry Allen           85
G    Nate Newton           73
C    Tom Rafferty          65 

DT   Randy White          121
DT   Jethro Pugh           61+
DE   Too Tall Jones        97
DE   Harvey Martin         82
ILB  Bob Breunig           65
ILB  Lee Roy Jordan        61+
OLB  D.D. Lewis            63+
OLB  Dexter Coakley        61
CB   Mel Renfro            67+
CB   Everson Walls         65
SS   Darren Woodson        78
FS   Cliff Harris          84

New York Giants

QB   Phil Simms            90
RB   Tiki Barber           99
RB   Ron A. Johnson        54+
RB   Rodney Hampton        54
WR   Amani Toomer          63
WR   Chris Calloway        37
TE   Bob Tucker            59
T    Brad Benson           53
T    Doug Riesenberg       51
G    Doug Van Horn         50+
G    William Roberts       45
C    Bart Oates            54 

DT   Keith Hamilton        72
DT   John Mendenhall       47
DE   Michael Strahan      121
DE   Leonard Marshall      65
ILB  Harry Carson          93
ILB  Brian Kelley          59
OLB  Lawrence Taylor      139
OLB  Jessie Armstead       68
CB   Mark Haynes           61
CB   Perry Williams        50
SS   Beasley Reece         35
FS   Terry Kinard          45

Philadelphia Eagles

QB   Donovan McNabb        87   [Randall Cunningham = 86]
RB   Wilbert Montgomery    71
RB   Brian Westbrook       58
WR   Harold Carmichael     79
WR   Mike Quick            45
TE   Keith Jackson         37
T    Jerry Sisemore        68
T    Tra Thomas            61
G    Wade Key              38
G    Ron Baker             37
C    Guy Morriss           52 

DT   Charlie Johnson       55
DT   Jerome Brown          48
DE   Reggie White         112
DE   Clyde Simmons         68
ILB  Bill Bergey           69+
ILB  Jeremiah Trotter      62
OLB  Seth Joyner           61
OLB  William Thomas        58
CB   Eric Allen            73
CB   Troy Vincent          71
SS   Randy Logan           68
FS   Brian Dawkins         87

Washington Redskins

QB   Joe Theismann         87
RB   Larry Brown       71+
RB   John Riggins          58
WR   Art Monk              91
WR   Gary Clark            76
TE   Jerry Smith           43+
T    Joe Jacoby            83
T    George Starke         62
G    Russ Grimm            63
G    Mark May              46
C    Len Hauss             58+

DT   Dave Butz             81
DT   Diron Talbert         71+
DE   Charles Mann          80
DE   Ron McDole            63+
DE   Dexter Manley         63
ILB  Neal Olkewicz         58
ILB  Harold McLinton       54+
OLB  Chris Hanburger       91+
OLB  Wilber Marshall       54
CB   Darrell Green        103
CB   Mike Bass             52+
SS   Ken Houston           81+
FS   Mark H. Murphy        40
FS   Brig Owens            40+