The NFL announced on Monday their All-Decade Team for the 2010 decade, which featured 8 unanimous selections among the 42 players and two coaches.
Tom Brady, who was also an All-Decade Team member for the 2000’s, was named as one of the two quarterbacks, and joined DT Aaron Donald, LB Von Miller, RB Adrian Peterson, OT Koe Thomas, K Justin Tucker, DE JJ Watt and OG Marhsal Yanda as unanimous selections by the 48-member Pro Football Hall of Fame committee.
Not surprisingly given their success in the last decade, the New England Patriots led the way with nine selections, including coach Bill Belichick–Brady, Rob Gronkowski, Stephen Gostkowski, Logan Mankins and Chandler Jones made the list with more than 50 games played with the team, while Cordarrelle Patterson, Darelle Revis and Antonio Brown also made the list having played at least one game for the team.
Darren Sproles joined the list at two spots–punt returner and offensive flex player–just the fourth player in NFL history to do so, joining Mel Gray (punt and kick returner), Dante Hall (punt and kick returner) and Deion Sanders (cornerback and punt returner).
2010s ALL-DECADE TEAM ROSTER
* – denotes unanimous selection
OFFENSE
QB Tom Brady*
QB Aaron Rodgers
RB Frank Gore
RB Marshawn Lynch
RB LeSean McCoy
RB Adrian Peterson*
WR Antonio Brown
WR Larry Fitzgerald
WR Calvin Johnson
WR Julio Jones
FLEX Darren Sproles
TE Rob Gronkowski
TE Travis Kelce
OT Jason Peters
OT Tyron Smith
OT Joe Staley
OT Joe Thomas*
OG Jahri Evans
OG Logan Mankins
OG Zack Martin
OG Marshal Yanda*
C Alex Mack
C Maurkice Pouncey
DEFENSE
DE Calais Campbell
DE Cameron Jordan
DE Julius Peppers
DE JJ Watt*
DT Geno Atkins
DT Fletcher Cox
DT Aaron Donald*
DT Ndamukong Suh
LB Chandler Jones
LB Luke Kuechly
LB Khalil Mack
LB Von Miller*
LB Bobby Wagner
LB Patrick Willis
CB Patrick Peterson
CB Darrelle Revis
CB Richard Sherman
S Eric Berry
S Earl Thomas
S Eric Weddle
DB Chris Harris
DB Tyrann Mathieu
SPECIALISTS
P Johnny Hekker
P Shane Lechler
K Stephen Gostkowski
K Justin Tucker*
PR Tyreek Hill
PR Darren Sproles
KR Devin Hester
KR Cordarrelle Patterson
As I was driving into work this morning, the topic of kneeling for the national anthem once again came up on sports talk radio. So, I started to think some more about the situation, which for the last few weeks I’ve largely been trying to avoid.
There seems to be little doubt at this point that the NFL owners simply would like the topic to disappear. As much as they don’t want to admit it, it’s hurting the bottom line for the conversation to continue focusing on pre-game activities, and the number of people who are outraged and/or actively avoiding the league over this topic seems to be at a minimum holding steady, if not growing.
At the same time, the owners also are clearly not pleased with a certain President stick (more…)
It’s easy this week to get wrapped up in all the hoopla surrounding the NFL draft. But as the league gets ready to welcome a new class of rookies, we all should also remember to keep an eye on the continuing developments surrounding the health issues of former players.
An announcement came out today that I thought was interesting and that I hope helps lead to a better quality of life for at least some former players. The National Football League Alumni Association and Neuralstem Inc. announced they are working together to develop a trial for treating NFL alumni who are suffering from traumatic brain injuries with NSI-189, a neurogenic drug platform.
NSI-189 is apparently a drug being tested as a possible treatment for major depressive disorder and, according to a statement, it appears to work by stimulating neurons in the hippocampus, a region of the brain that atrophies in depression and which also could be implicated in brain injury. (more…)
Assuming Ray Lewis follows through on his plans to retire, the only likely hurdle between him and a first-ballot Hall of Fame induction in five years would be the memory of legal issues he faced in 2001 after two individuals were killed in a fight with Lewis and his companions after the Super Bowl.
While the most serious of the charges we’re dropped in exchange for his testimony against others, he pled guilty to obstruction of justice, avoiding prison time and ensuring that he’d be able to continue what ended up being one of the best careers a linebacker has had in NFL history.
That career included 13 pro bowls, seven first-team All-Pros, a Super Bowl MVP award, two NFL Defensive Player of the Year awards, three AFC Defensive Player of the Year awards, being named to the 2000’s All-Decade team, and a host of other awards and records (see the sidebar here). So while his legal troubles may be a discussion point in the Hall of Fame conversation (even if they’re not supposed to be), the debate isn’t whether or not he will get in, it’s only a possible debate about when.
And the bigger debate, in many people’s eyes, is where exactly he falls in the list of “Greatest of all-time” for Linebackers (realistically, probably inside or outside ‘backers).
Personally, while I’ve always thought he was great, I also thought he also was greatly aided by usually playing on teams that had a system (and the players up front) to funnel traffic his way and keep blockers off of him–so I would be hesitant to put him ahead of guys like Lawrence Taylor, Dick Butkus and possibly even a few more (Ray Nitschke? Mike Singletary? Jack Lambert or Jack Ham?).
So we put the word out to you (especially our regular Hall of Fame commenters)–we’ve got the poll going, is Lewis the greatest of all time, or who would you rank ahead of him? Let us know in the comments.
As a 37-year-old athlete who is not currently under contract, the injury obviously puts the controversial wide receiver’s future in doubt.
So, two questions: Is he done? And is he a Hall of Famer?
I don’t care for Owens. He’s definitely got some diva to him as an individual, prancing for the cameras and throwing quarterback Donovan McNabb under the bus as his two years in Philadelphia wound down.
But you can’t help but respect him as a player. No matter what his often strange life has looked like off the field, he is a workout warrior who always answers the bell on Sundays. His nine catch, 122-yard performance in Super Bowl XXXIX on a barely healed broken leg was as memorable as it gets, despite the loss.
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