If you could bring back one of your team's players in their prime for this week's playoff games

[Thanatos 2,847]

Who would it be?

 

For the Panthers, there is only one answer: Steve Smith. Jordan Gross possibly, but Smith fills our biggest need, (we have no WRs at all), and was probably the best player in franchise history, at least of those who were here long-term, (Reggie White is better, but was only here for a short while).

[56AceInDaPlace 110]

Albert Hanyesworth. Him in the middle wrecking the interior oline would set up our blitzes on the edges.

[SteVo+ 3,702]

Carson Wentz

[seanbrock 1,684]

This is a tough one. As far as the best player in Eagles history, that'd be Reggie White. Over 8 years in Philly he had 198 sacks. He's arguably the greatest defensive player of all time. He would easily give the Eagles the best defense in the league.

 

I think another player you could argue would be Dawkins. Having a safety duo with Jenkins and Dawkins would be give offensive coordinators nightmares because Schwarz could do whatever he wanted with either one.

 

The best QB to ever play for the Eagles thus far is Norm Van Brocklin. Can we really count him for this with how little time he spent here? He did win the Eagles their last championship game. If the answer to that question is yes then I would go with Van Brocklin. If the answer is no then you look at the other QB's. Cunningham didn't have any post season success here. Jaworski was good but not good enough to pass on Reggie and not better than McNabb.

 

Speaking of McNabb, he gets a lot of hate for coming up short and some of it is deserving. Ultimately I think like Jaworski, he wasn't as good as his contemporaries and the Eagles didn't have enough talent. I think for that reason though you can't justify putting him over Reggie White. Then we have Carson Wentz. Wentz was crazy good this year. He was 1 TD away from leading the league in TD's despite missing the final 3 games and I promise you, those numbers in third down he put up are not a fluke. He's never even played in a playoff game though and has only had 1 good season so while I think he deserves to be mentioned, he should be down the list a little.

 

Long story short, Reggie White, since I probably can't pick Van Brocklin.

[Thanatos 2,847]

So I thought to myself "198 sacks in 8 years sounds like way too much." So I did math. That would be an average of 24.75 sacks a year.

 

Reggie White had a total of 198 sacks during his entire career, not during his 8 years in Philly. He had 124 during his 8 years in Philly. Which is still an insane average of 15.5, but much more doable than averaging breaking the sack record every year.

[Cherry 1,302]

Prime Torry Holt would be a bitch in McVay's offense.

[Sarge+ 3,436]

Mel Blount. We need better coverage, and who better than arguably the greatest CB of all time? If I had concerns about differences in eras, I'd go with Rod Woodson. Not sure I'd lose either way. lol

 

Let Blount shadow Gronk when he's on the field and Haden takes care of Cooks. I'd like our chances then.

Edited January 4, 2018 by Sarge

[Vin+ 3,121]

Mark Brunell is the easy answer, but I'm not sure it's the best one.

 

Tony Boselli would shore up a weak link on the OL, but he's a tackle.

 

Tony Brackens would add yet another pass rusher, but that seems more like a luxury than a need.

 

Jimmy Smith would certainly help the WR corp, but I'm not sure how much it actually helps.

 

I think the answer is Prime Fred Taylor. Sure, we've got Fournette, but he's a volume runner, and if it's the OL that's the issue, I think Taylor would be better at mitigating that. Plus him being there would take some of the pressure off of Bortles.

[seanbrock 1,684]

Mel Blount. We need better coverage, and who better than arguably the greatest CB of all time? If I had concerns about differences in eras, I'd go with Rod Woodson. Not sure I'd lose either way. lol

 

Let Blount shadow Gronk when he's on the field and Haden takes care of Cooks. I'd like our chances then.

You could say this about any position but I feel for CB and especially Blount that it would be awfully hard to play under the rules they have now. If anyone could do it, it would be Mel Blount though.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/8T79jrgH2Z/

 

That says it all right there.

 

Mark Brunell is the easy answer, but I'm not sure it's the best one.

 

Tony Boselli would shore up a weak link on the OL, but he's a tackle.

 

Tony Brackens would add yet another pass rusher, but that seems more like a luxury than a need.

 

Jimmy Smith would certainly help the WR corp, but I'm not sure how much it actually helps.

 

I think the answer is Prime Fred Taylor. Sure, we've got Fournette, but he's a volume runner, and if it's the OL that's the issue, I think Taylor would be better at mitigating that. Plus him being there would take some of the pressure off of Bortles.

What about prime MJD with Fournette? That would really suck to have to defend and I think he would actually help more in the passing game than Smith with a QB like Bortles.

[Zack_of_Steel+ 3,014]

I would say Polamalu, but only because he's that much more of an upgrade over Mitchell (I'd just put Davis at FS) than Blount over Burns.

[Vin+ 3,121]

You could say this about any position but I feel for CB and especially Blount that it would be awfully hard to play under the rules they have now. If anyone could do it, it would be Mel Blount though.

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/8T79jrgH2Z/

 

That says it all right there.

 

What about prime MJD with Fournette? That would really suck to have to defend and I think he would actually help more in the passing game than Smith with a QB like Bortles.

Maybe, but it feels really weird taking MJD over Taylor.

[oochymp 2,393]

I know I'm gonna get some shit for this, but my pick would be Chris Johnson. I think our defense is fine where it is, so even though a lot of my top choices would actually be defensive (Jevon Kearse, Keith Bulluck, Samari Rolle, Blaine Bishop come to mind quickly) our offense needs more help.

 

So that leaves me with who can I grab for offense? We've never exactly fielded an offensive juggernaut, so the options are limited, for me it came down to Steve McNair, Bruce Matthews, Eddie George, and Chris Johnson. If I could take the Vikings or Patriots version of Randy Moss he'd be up there, but we don't have any receivers worth consideration for their time with us (with apologies to Derrick Mason, he's just not better than our current crop) so I've got those four.

 

McNair and Matthews don't make enough of an improvement, it's really weird to say that about McNair, but that's where I am right now with Mariota, and our oline has left something to be desired this year, but it's been good enough, so then it comes down to which running back do I add to our current backfield. Eddie is absolutely the better of the two backs, the problem is he's too similar to Murray/Henry, we don't need a third power back. However, if we could add a prime years Chris Johnson to the mix as a RB/WR he'd add the speed the offense is lacking at times and would make this offense incredibly difficult to stop.

[Thanatos 2,847]

I don't think Chris Johnson is enough of an upgrade personally.

 

CJ2K always had a great O-line, right? When he was actually going off, I mean, before he became CJ2YPC.

[oochymp 2,393]

I don't think Chris Johnson is enough of an upgrade personally.

 

CJ2K always had a great O-line, right? When he was actually going off, I mean, before he became CJ2YPC.

I'm not looking at him to upgrade Murray or Henry, but to compliment them and add a different wrinkle to the offense, and he always had a solid oline, but nothing I would consider great

[seanbrock 1,684]

I would say Polamalu, but only because he's that much more of an upgrade over Mitchell (I'd just put Davis at FS) than Blount over Burns.

The Steelers have so many options for this lol. Might not be terrible to throw Ham or Lambert in middle of that defense. Imagine if the Steelers kicked Pouncey over to LG and put Dawson or Webster at center. I mean, Webster was probably like 250lbs when he was playing so maybe that wouldn't be so good haha.

[Sarge+ 3,436]

The Steelers have so many options for this lol. Might not be terrible to throw Ham or Lambert in middle of that defense. Imagine if the Steelers kicked Pouncey over to LG and put Dawson or Webster at center. I mean, Webster was probably like 250lbs when he was playing so maybe that wouldn't be so good haha.

 

Who I take might change based on the team we draw, but I can't imagine any scenario where I would take someone on offense. Ham wouldn't be a bad option in Shazier's spot, though. IMO it has to be defense no matter who we play against.

[RazorStar 4,025]

AFC:

New England: Mike Vrabel

Pittsburgh: Troy Polamalu

Jacksonville: Jimmy Smith

Kansas City: Eric Berry

Tennessee: Samari Rolle

Buffalo: Doug Flutie (Actually Bruce Smith)

 

NFC:

Philadelphia: Carson Wentz (it is clearly the correct choice here, no fooling)

Minnesota: Steve Hutchinson

LA Rams: Jack Youngblood

New Orleans: Rickey Jackson

Carolina: Steve Smith

Atlanta: John Abraham

[seanbrock 1,684]

AFC:

New England: Andre Tippett

Pittsburgh: Troy Polamalu

Jacksonville: Tony Boselli

Kansas City: Tony Gonzalez

Tennessee: Ken Houston

Buffalo: Jim Kelly

 

NFC:

Philadelphia: Reggie White

Minnesota: Adrian Peterson

LA Rams: Isaac Bruce

New Orleans: Rickey Jackson

Carolina: Steve Smith

Atlanta: Deion Sanders

[.AirMcNair. 1,232]

I know I'm gonna get some shit for this, but my pick would be Chris Johnson. I think our defense is fine where it is, so even though a lot of my top choices would actually be defensive (Jevon Kearse, Keith Bulluck, Samari Rolle, Blaine Bishop come to mind quickly) our offense needs more help.

 

So that leaves me with who can I grab for offense? We've never exactly fielded an offensive juggernaut, so the options are limited, for me it came down to Steve McNair, Bruce Matthews, Eddie George, and Chris Johnson. If I could take the Vikings or Patriots version of Randy Moss he'd be up there, but we don't have any receivers worth consideration for their time with us (with apologies to Derrick Mason, he's just not better than our current crop) so I've got those four.

 

McNair and Matthews don't make enough of an improvement, it's really weird to say that about McNair, but that's where I am right now with Mariota, and our oline has left something to be desired this year, but it's been good enough, so then it comes down to which running back do I add to our current backfield. Eddie is absolutely the better of the two backs, the problem is he's too similar to Murray/Henry, we don't need a third power back. However, if we could add a prime years Chris Johnson to the mix as a RB/WR he'd add the speed the offense is lacking at times and would make this offense incredibly difficult to stop.

 

lol Mason is worlds better than everyone in our WR corp short of Matthews, and he's still noticeably better than Matthews.

 

Now you can argue whether or not we'd even use him properly because Mike Heimerdinger looks like a god compared to Terry Robiskie , but he's most certainly better than every WR on our roster.

[seanbrock 1,684]

Bruce Matthews actually now that I think about it might be the best choice because prime Bruce Matthews could be plugged into any position on the line where the Titans are weak and be dominant. That offensive line would just blow everyone off the ball.

[OSUViking 505]

I was going to say Brett Favre if it's his first season with the Vikings but then realized it would be too ironic.

 

So Fran Tarkenton? Maybe even just one of the better offensive linemen we've had. Or better yet... Jimmy Kleinsasser

[Thanatos 2,847]

Adrian Peterson maybe?

[OSUViking 505]

Adrian Peterson maybe?

I thought about that but I'd rather be secure along the line. McKinnon and Murray don't hold a flame to AP in his prime, but having a line that gives Keenum time and opportunities for the backs would have a better and more sustainable impact imo.

[BwareDWare94 723]

Adrian Peterson fumbled in both of his most important playoff games. Pass.

 

Probably Favre or prime Chad Greenway to give us 3 studs at LB. Or perhaps prime a Kevin Williams to pair with Linval

[.AirMcNair. 1,232]

Would probably take Bulluck this week, just to have someone who can cover Gronk.