Legends continued to flow off the Draft board in round three. Along with Texans analyst John Harris, I'm drafting an all-time NFL team. The twist: you can only choose one player from each of the 32 franchises. We each have a squad we're constructing, and the choices in ROUND ONE and ROUND TWO might surprise you a bit. After those two rounds, each of our rosters was half-complete.
John picked first this round, and we were choosing eight more players apiece. By the time it finished, we had 24 players each, with our final eight to be chosen next week.
JH 17: EDGE/Outside linebacker Von Miller, Denver Broncos - Neither of us had chosen a Bronco yet, and instead of going with quarterback John Elway, he went with Miller. His front seven will feature some young guns with Miller alongside J.J. Watt and Aaron Donald. Miller's 106 career sacks fit in nicely with the aforementioned duo, as well as all-time sack leader Bruce Smith, who's also up front on Harris' defense.
DD 17: Linebacker Junior Seau, San Diego Chargers - Six times an All-Pro, Seau will pair nicely at linebacker with Ray Lewis. A 20-year NFL veteran, his finest days were in San Diego in the 1990's. The Pro Football Hall of Famer regularly eclipsed the 100-tackle mark in those years, and for his career, he finished with 18 picks and 18 fumble recoveries.
JH 18: Quarterback Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts - At long last, a quarterback went off the board. Harris goes for the guy who won a pair of rings, and FIVE Most Valuable Player awards. He'll have a lot to work with in this offense.
DD 18: Defensive end Deacon Jones, Los Angeles/Saint Louis Rams - I'm going to wait to pick my QB, and I'm going to keep bolstering my defense. Deacon Jones is the greatest Ram of all time, and he actually coined the term 'sack'. Had the statistic been kept when he played from 1961 to 1974, he'd likely be the all-time leader in NFL history. He was an All-Pro five times.
JH 19: Running back Barry Sanders, Detroit Lions - A breathtaking talent, Sanders was a 4-time rushing yards champ, tallied double-digit touchdown runs in a season six times, and averaged 5.0 yards per carry and 99.8 yards per game in his career. He's also the first running back on Harris' roster.
DD 19: Cornerback Dick "Night Train" Lane, Chicago/Saint Louis/Arizona Cardinals - His 68 career interceptions, alone, are enough reason to add him to my defense. But the Hall of Famer was one of the game's most ferocious tacklers, too. He was All-NFL seven times in his career from 1952 to 1965.
JH 20: Running back Earl Campbell, Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans - What a 1-2 punch at running back for Harris. He adds the 'Tyler Rose', who averaged 1,614 yards and 14 touchdowns per season in his first four years in the NFL. A punishing runner, the Hall of Famer won an MVP award and was selected to five Pro Bowls.
DD 20: Defensive tackle Bob Lilly, Dallas Cowboys - Seven times an All-Pro, Lilly was an original Cowboy and a member of both the All-60's and All-70's NFL squads. His head coach, Tom Landry, once said "Nobody is better than Lilly". Next to Mean Joe Green inside, with Reggie White and Deacon Jones on the outside, it'll be a tough day for opposing offensive lines.
JH 21: Offensive tackle Joe Thomas, Cleveland Browns - Harris continued to beef up his offensive line by taking the 6-time All-Pro, who went to the Pro Bowl in each of his first 10 NFL seasons.
DD 21: Defensive back Jalen Ramsey, Jacksonville Jaguars - He's a lockdown corner, capable of also playing safety. Ramsey is still a relatively young player, but he's been one of the premier players in all of football since entering the League. He has 11 career interceptions in five seasons, and that number is so low because opposing quarterbacks rarely throw the ball his way anymore.
JH 22: Wide receiver Julio Jones, Atlanta Falcons - With Rice and Moss already in the fold, adding Jones to the mix makes an already lethal passing game even more so. Jones has averaged 15.2 yards per catch, six touchdowns and 1,290 receiving yards per year since entering the League in 2011.
DD 22: Defensive end Julius Peppers, Carolina Panthers - I'll add another weapon to my pass rush by putting Peppers and his 159.5 career sacks on my squad. He also picked off 11 passes and returned four for scores, forced 52 fumbles and recovered 21 of them in his 17-year career.
JH 23: Defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy, Seattle Seahawks - Defensive Player of the Year in 1992, Kennedy was a force on the inside up front for Seattle in the 1990's. He was selected to eight Pro Bowls in his 11 NFL seasons.
DD 23: Defensive tackle Warren Sapp, Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Speaking of Miami Hurricane greats, Sapp is my Bucs choice and he'll be a nice interior presence for my defense. He checked all the boxes in his NFL career: won a Super Bowl, won a Defensive Player of the Year award, was a member of both the All-90's and All-2000's teams and sailed into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He also registered 96.5 career sacks, from an defensive tackle position.
JH 24: Linebacker Mike Singletary, Chicago Bears - Twice an NFL Defensive Player of the Year, and an All-Pro seven times between 1981 and 1992, Singletary is one of the best to ever do it at linebacker.
DD 24: Center Mick Tinglehoff, Minnesota Vikings - He's not just a unique name: Tinglehoff played every single game from 1962 through 1978, and was an All-Pro every year between 1964 and 1969. The Pro Football Hall of Famer rounds my offensive line out nicely.
