2010 All-Pro Team

I’m trying something different this year. All-Pro Teams are generally voted on prior to the start of the playoffs. Why not let it play out? Don’t discredit players who aren’t able to get in because they don’t have as much talent surrounding them, but do credit players who make an impact in the games that matter most. In other words, if there isn’t too much separating players in the regular season, I believe the postseason should certainly be used as a tiebreaker. And truth be told, it works perfectly because I needed that time to research and write this all up.

QB: Tom Brady, NE
Though Tom Brady went one and done in the playoffs for the second consecutive year, you have to admire the way he played the regular season. He broke Bernie Kosar’s two-decade old record by throwing 335 consecutive passes without an interception and his 9:1 TD:INT ratio also shattered his own 2007 historical mark. Though an exceptional percentage of his passes were thrown under 10 yards and 50.9% of his yards were accounted for by his receivers after the catch, Brady consistently delivered balls on time into the hands of his playmakers. Still, his level of execution on the underneath throws was unmatched as he led the league’s best offense by a wide margin (77 better than the next) and the Patriots to a NFL-best 14-2 mark. And truth be told, with the way the Jets were playing defensively, there wasn’t a whole lot of room for Brady to do a whole lot more in that final game.

RB: Arian Foster, HOU
Foster is a big, powerful, fast, agile, complete running back and if I had watched him play the final two games of the 2009 season, I’m convinced my 2010 fantasy football season would have turned out differently. The Texans offense saw a shift in philosophy from one carried by the right shoulder of Matt Schaub to one driven by the legs of Arian Foster. He finished as the league’s leading rusher and finished in the top 20 seasons all-time in yards from scrimmage. Additionally, Foster was on the field more than any other running back not named Steven Jackson and making an impact play after play. Only 2 backs inside the top 50 rushers had a higher 1st down percentage (of total carries) and only 4 of the 1000 yard rushers had a better 1st down success rate on carries of 2 yards or less to go. By putting together a comprehensive season, Foster appears ready to join the short list of elite running backs in the league.

RB: Jamaal Charles, KC
Charles finished 2nd in rushing with nearly 1500 rushing yards and 14th in carries—a discrepancy which expresses the historically remarkable 6.4 YPC, which is good for 2nd all-time in a season, only to Jim Brown. Though credit must be given to the Chiefs’ offensive line for opening holes and coaching staff for keeping Charles fresh, this is as impressive an accomplishment as Brady’s flawless passing streak, in my humble opinion. He’s drawn many comparisons to Chris Johnson, but Charles did his work not through long speed—not that he doesn’t have it—but with vision, sharp cuts and masterful agility, which led to more consistent positive production. Whereas Johnson had 22 runs of 20+ yards, Charles had only 10. However, where Johnson was stuffed on 12.6% and rushed for 1st downs 22.1% of his carries last year, Charles posted rates of 7.0% and 30.4%, respectively. The other criticism we heard was for his work, or lack thereof, on carries with 2 yards or less to go; however, his conversion rate of 81% (17 of 21) silences that theory as he led all 1000 yard backs here. While it’s true he finished near the bottom of this pack in attempts (MJD finished 1st with 50), his teammate Thomas Jones only converted 53.3% (16 of 30), proving that the success was probably more on Charles than it was the offensive line.

FB: Lawrence Vickers, CLE
Rather than handcuffing the fullback position to the top running backs, it’s more meaningful to look at the divergence between how the runners performed with and without a leader blocker. This year, no running back had more success running behind fullback than Peyton Hillis. Pop in the highlight reel and the first man through that hole will be Lawrence Vickers, getting his helmet to seal off a lineman or to neutralize a linebacker in front. He delivers bone-crunching hits, stonewalls defenders, and is the reason Hillis averaged nearly a half-yard better per carry when he was in the game.

WR: Brandon Lloyd, DEN
Prior to 2010, Lloyd had made a career of highlight reel catches, drops, inconsistent route running, and a lot of home changes. Finally putting together all of his talents, he came to Denver who ran him down the field enough for him to lead the league in receiving yards. The Broncos didn’t ask him to run a lot of routes before the sticks as 93.5% of his catches went for 1st downs, a number that easily led the league. While remaining a staple in SportsCenter’s Top 10, Lloyd displayed some consistency and rewarded the Broncos for giving him a chance. Whether it was Orton or Tebow at the helm, Lloyd shredded defenses on 18.8 yards per catch. His numbers took a downturn after the bye as teams shifted more attention his way, but he closed on a 3-game stretch where he averaged nearly 90 yards a game demonstrating his ability to adapt to new defensive looks. Only 3 1000-yard receivers finished with higher than the 9.5 yards per target Lloyd posted. I’ll be interested to see whether he can build on his strong performance next year or whether he’ll have been just another flash in the pan. For this season though, no receiver was more productive.

WR: Roddy White, ATL
With a remarkable first half of the season, White opened eyes and jumped to the top tier of NFL wideouts while earning an All-Pro bid. He finished 2nd in both receptions and receiving yards while catching a respectable 64.2% of balls thrown his direction and dropping only 1 of every 30. He also converted on 52.3% of 3rd down passes where he was targeted, which exceeds all other potential All-Pro candidates. As the only real receiving threat on his team, Roddy White’s size and polish shredded double teams and worked all parts of the field to provide the Falcons offense with enough balance to secure the top seed in the playoffs. He also caught the game-winner against the Ravens midseason and single-handedly willed his team to victory. White’s consistency, effort, and ability to take over a game will have him among the best at his position year in and year out and when we look back upon this future trend, we’ll recognize that it started this year.

TE: Antonio Gates, SD
It’s difficult to give Gates the nod here because injury does play a factor, but despite missing 6 games, no other tight end approached Gates’ production when healthy. The Chargers receiving corps was dinged up for much of the year, making Gates the go-to guy in almost every situation. Even so, opponents had no answer for him as he led all tight ends in receptions per target, catching 76.9% of the balls thrown his direction. Further, 64.5% of the passes thrown his direction went for 1st downs (Rob Gronkowski was the only other to surpass the 50% mark at 50.8%). He added 6.64 YAC per reception and finished 2nd only to Vernon Davis in average yards per reception. By setting a torrid pace through the start of the season, no other tight end was able to surpass Gates in touchdown passes after a full season; he shared a 3-way league lead with 10. Gates isn’t your ideal blocker, but when on the field, no tight end is capable of posing the threat that he does as a receiver.

LT: D’Brickashaw Ferguson, NYJ
Ferguson’s taken the long road to the elite level, but he’s finally made it. With elite athleticism, long arms, and a nice frame, D’Brick set the bar for the prototypical left tackle back in 2005 as a draft prospect. For the first couple years, he showed glimpses of why the Jets coveted him so highly, but he struggled to anchor against power moves. In 2010, he developed into the consummate pass protector on the left side, allowing only a pair of sacks on the year, or one for about every 285 dropbacks. Ferguson will probably never develop into an elite run blocker, but he does a nice job creating the edge allowing the Jets’ running backs to turn the corner on his side. Together, Greene and Tomlinson averaged nearly four-tenths of a yard better per carry running “Wide Left” than in all other directions combined. Ferguson will probably continue to get overshadowed by Long and Thomas, but he’s right up there with both of them.

LG: Wade Smith, HOU
The All-Pro team isn’t about identifying the best players, but about finding the best players that season. While I’d argue that the best guards in the game still lie in New Orleans based on multiple seasons at a high level, no guard played better than Wade Smith this year. I’m still wondering where he came from. Not only did that offensive line pave way to make an undrafted free agent an elite running back (not saying he isn’t incredibly talented), but they did a great job in pass protection too. Maybe you didn’t pay much attention to Smith, but that’s no problem. Just pop on an Arian Foster highlight before YouTube goes to work and watch #74 go to work. You’ll see his man on the ground or a cutback lane open up right behind his back springing Foster for a big play more times than not. According to Football Outsiders, no offensive line blocked runs up the middle better than Houston. The interior only allowed 6 negative rush plays on the season and allowed the team to convert a league best 79% in power situations (3rd/4th and 2 or less & 2 yards or less to the goal line). In pass protection, he allowed no sacks, had no holding calls or false starts, and allowed only 3 hits all year.

C: Nick Mangold, NYJ
Mangold has cemented himself as the league’s top center for 3 years running after another stellar season as the focal point of the Jets’ offensive line. He makes the line calls for a unit that has done a tremendous job in pass protection for the entirety of Sanchez’s short career. Unlike most centers, Mangold makes his money on the passing downs where he has the strength to anchor against the best bull rush. Mangold conceded only one sack and one hit all year with only a handful of pressures. In the run game, he can drive defenders off the line and also get to the second level with ease. Only the Bengals, Browns, and Patriots allowed fewer negative rushes up the middle than the 5 the Jets allowed. His impact was not only visible through paving holes and pass protection, but also through the help supplied to left guard Matt Slauson who looked pretty shaky at times. His ability to mask deficiencies next to him and block on his own has earned Mangold the right to be called the best center in the game today…again.

RG: Josh Sitton, GB
Sitton was selected as the offensive lineman of the year as voted by the NFL Alumni Association (retired OL), even if he was snubbed from the Pro Bowl and All-Pro teams. He was easily the Packers’ best linemen this year and the league’s best guard in pass protection. Allowing no sacks and only 2 hits on the season, he and center Scott Wells formed the core of the pass protection in the middle that allowed Rodgers to step up and out to evade pressure this year. Though he plays in a zone-blocking scheme—which just means the Packers use ZB concepts more than most teams—he does well in anchoring against the bull rush, a uncommon asset in typical ZBS linemen. In the run game, the Packers struggles have been well-documented, but it was never really an issue up the middle. The late season success of the ground game with a rookie running back with the lateral agility and speed to turn the corner shows the holes were always there and that the back wasn’t. In fact, only 3 teams allowed fewer negative rushing plays (5) and only 4 teams converted a better percentage of power plays (defined above) up the center. In his first two years starting, he’s made my All-Pro team as an honorable mention and now on the 1st team. His pass protection is already elite and will be one of the league’s best overall guards, if he continues to make similar strides as a run blocker.

RT: Sebastian Vollmer, NE
Through two seasons, Vollmer has been as impressive any offensive linemen in the league and a home run draft pick for the Patriots. Prior to this season, I projected him to make the ’10-’19 All-Decade team and he hasn’t let me down so far. He allowed only 1 sack and 5 additional hits on the quarterback through an entire season at right tackle. He played disciplined football with only 2 holding calls and 2 false starts all year. What’s even more surprising is the effectiveness the Patriots had on the ground in 2010 with a pedestrian (talent-wise) running back carrying the ball. According to Football Outsiders, the Patriots finished with the best offensive line on runs behind right tackle and the 4th best on runs around right end. Green-Ellis averaged 4.7 per carry running to his right and just 4.2 everywhere else. While the right tackles don’t get as much publicity as their counterparts on the other side, Vollmer’s all-around play has been every bit as impressive as the high 1st round picks such as Thomas and Long that have set the league ablaze.

DE: Trent Cole, PHI
Unlike the ends and linebackers who are moved around for the best match-ups, you know Trent Cole will be coming off the right defensive side and still you can’t stop him. It sounds easy enough and opposition will most likely have their best pass protector in front of him, yet Cole still wins the match-up almost every week. It’s a testament to his work ethic, motor, and technique. He had 9 tackles registered “wide right” and 13 “wide left,” which demonstrates his innate ability in pursuit. Among defensive ends, he finished inside the top 10 in tackles, stuffs, quarterback hits, hurries, and pressure percentage, while also racking up double digit sacks on the year. In addition to being a relentless pass rusher and a headache for quarterbacks, the results show that his side of the ball finished inside the top 10 in run defense according to Football Outsiders, including 2nd best on runs behind left tackle. If that’s not enough, the Eagles love to drop Cole back into coverage about twice a game, which his flexibility and athleticism allows. While he doesn’t rack up the mentions on ESPN or through other media outlets, Trent Cole has proven to be a top 3 defensive end year after year with a motor that runs stronger than any other end in the league.

DE: Julius Peppers, CHI
Many, myself included, criticized the Bears for making a big splash in free agency and funneling absurdly large sums of money into Peppers’ bank account last offseason. Peppers responded by playing inspired football at a very high level proving me wrong (though I still think it’s a bit too much money for an end). It was obvious that his presence freed up his teammates for more one-on-one opportunities and that was his single, biggest impact, even though it can’t be measured through numbers. In other measurable impacts, Peppers finished inside the top 3 in splash plays among all ends. He unofficially applied pressure on 10.7% of his rush attempts and played the run equally well. The additional pass rush fueled the Bears defense, which carried them to the #2 seed in the NFC and all the way to the Championship game.

DT: Haloti Ngata, BAL
Just how good was Haloti Ngata this season? Well, I think some would argue he had a legitimate claim to defensive player of the year. When a nose tackle garners that type of attention without the numbers, it’s saying something about how dominant he’s playing. He’ll never put up gaudy sack totals or double digit runs stuffs, but he’s the perfect interior defensive lineman. He’s scheme-diverse and within any scheme can virtually play any of the positions. Ngata’s a rare athletic specimen and one of the few men on earth who probably doesn’t need to lose weight at 350 pounds. While he’s always led a daunting Ravens rush defense, this year he was more productive as a pass rusher than in years past. He applied pressure on nearly 5% of his rushes, an impressive number for a man his size, but more importantly made an impact play 2.5% of his snaps, a mark that ranks 3rd this season among interior linemen. And with 63 tackles, Ngata demonstrated his ability to absorb double teams, but also peel off blocks to make stops himself. His presence and production on the defensive line year in and year out has earned him recognition as the league’s best defensive tackle.

DT: Ndamukong Suh, DET
Suh not only ran away with the Defensive Rookie of the Year award, but has also earned a nod on the All-Pro team. Though the Lions run defense still has a long distance to go, his presence up front, infused the Lions’ pass rush with energy leading a marked improvement on the entire defense. His ability to wreck havoc from the interior allowed several of his teammates to have career years. He played more snaps than any other defensive tackle due to great conditioning and made a consistent impact. Suh demonstrated the capacity to take over games—though less frequently than he did at Nebraska—and was the identified “must block” player on the Lions defense each week. Despite taking on double teams, Suh used his rare (and I mean it) combination of strength and athleticism to penetrate the backfield and make plays behind the line of scrimmage, something he did more than any other tackle. This is the beginning of a long career for Suh and I would expect nothing less from him than All-Pro nods from here on out.

OLB: James Harrison, PIT
Though he may be a few dollars lighter in the pocket, Harrison never allowed the fines to affect him on the field and he outperformed all linebackers. Not only does Harrison do a great job of getting to the quarterback, but when he gets there, few rushers do a better job of bringing the pain and jarring the ball loose. Only Osi Umenyiora exceeded him here this year (on the latter, no one exceeds him on the former). Harrison never takes a week off and on the rare occasion where he’s not contributing much in the form of a pass rush; he’s at least controlling the line of scrimmage and stamping his impact on the run game. At 6 feet flat, no one does a better job of getting into and off of the pads of a blocker better than Harrison and there’s no better proof of it than his 100 tackles which was nearly 1 more per game than the next best at his position. Then there’s the third dimension: pass coverage. It’s not as if other linebackers aren’t capable of being great in coverage, it’s that they aren’t afforded the luxuries that Harrison has with another premier rusher on the other side. This has allowed the Steelers to drop Harrison into coverage more often than typical rush linebackers and it’s just another area where Silverback has excelled. For my money, there was no defensive player in the league more consistent, well-rounded, and effective on a weekly basis than Harrison. He just edges out Clay Matthews as my DPOY.

OLB: Clay Matthews, GB
Clay began the season at a sizzling pace with 8.5 sacks through 5 games (6 through 2) and then came the injuries. A hamstring sidelined him for the 1.5 games as the Packers dropped both playing with a limping pass rush. Even once he returned, he was still playing at an elite level, but then a midseason shin injury proved to be even more aggravating and forced him to miss weeks of practice. If it weren’t for this lingering effect, I believe Matthews would have won the award. Even so, there was no more impactful pass rusher this season. At this point in the season, Matthews sacrificed for his teammates. Dom stopped getting as creative with Clay and allowed offenses spend double teams on him, freeing up teammates in the process. His motor and speed off the edge are both unmatched—with Matthews it literally means as it reads. Because of his pass rush, his ability as a run defender goes a little unnoticed. He doesn’t have the pure strength that Harrison does to hold up at the point, but Matthews does a nice job of positioning and steering defenders. He’ll also take calculated gambles in reading linemen trying to slant and knife through to make a big play in the backfield as he did on 4th and 1 against Dallas this year or to force the fumble in the Super Bowl. Only one defensive player was better this year and none more meaningful to his team than Matthews, who allowed Capers to sit back and play more coverage than he otherwise would. As he’s recovered from the shin injury, Matthews’ production has picked up as well with 4.5 sacks in his final 5 weeks.

ILB: Brian Urlacher, CHI
Coming off of injury, Urlacher was forgotten, over-the-hill, and passed off as an afterthought. After outperforming every other inside linebacker in the league, people talk about him like he never left. Everyone seems quick to pin the resurrection of the Bears defense on Julius Peppers, but even more important was the return of Brian Urlacher who brings with him the ability to shut down the dive play and disrupt passing lanes in the middle of the field. He finished 2nd among all inside linebackers with 30 splash plays—beating even Peppers—including 10 stuffs and 10 pass deflections, showing his all-around value. 39.2% of his tackles were made near the sidelines showing good range. If there was any question of who the best inside linebacker was after 16 games had been played, it was cemented in the Championship game. While the rest of the team looked frozen after a quick score, Urlacher kept the core of the defense fired up and made a play that turned the game around to keep it close. Making just one more move with the ball in his hands may have re-written history, but it was the play Chicago needed at the time, provided by the man you’d expect to give it to them.

ILB: Patrick Willis, SF
This was a tough choice between Willis and Timmons, but when you consider what each player has around them, I gave the nod to Willis. Timmons plays in a linebacker-friendly system behind the second best nose tackle in the league for a defense stacked with talent from head to toe and coached by one of the best defensive coordinators ever. Willis, on the other hand, plays for a defense with average talent and is the unquestioned focal point of the league’s 2nd best run defense, which allowed only 3.5 per carry. Though he didn’t make as many big plays in coverage this year, Willis continued to improve his all-around game, this year improving as a pass rusher leading to a career-high 6 sacks. He continues to roam from sideline to sideline with the best in the league, recording a career-high 35.9% near the white chalk. I don’t want to be premature here, but it looks like Willis’s game is getting ready to plateau at a potentially Canton level for the next decade given his consistency, polish, production, and improvement from year to year.

CB: Nnamdi Asomugha, OAK
Scrabble continued his quest to prove that he’s be the best cover corner in the game, a title Revis was unfairly given based on a single year of production. Asomugha has been playing at an elite level for about four years now, but hardly gets the publicity he deserves. After seeing the recognition Revis earned last year for mirroring opponents’ top receivers, Asomugha pleaded to his coaches to allow him to do the same. He delivered. According to Stats Inc., he allowed only 13 completions on 33 targets for 205 yards and no touchdowns and that’s working without Rex Ryan’s genius scheme and through injury for the second half of the season. It’s clear that quarterbacks want to avoid him at all costs. The Raiders allowed a hair over 46 yards per game to #1 receivers with Nnamdi in the lineup and 90 in the two games he missed. Finally, I can’t help but chuckle at the way corners are publicly judged in today’s game and also how performance incentives are written into their contracts. According to ESPN, he could have achieved his incentives and remained a Raider by: “play[ing] in a greater number of defensive plays in 2010 than he did in 2009…[or] he also could have achieved his incentives by improving upon on his interceptions, fumble recoveries or sacks this season.” Because he missed 2 games, failed to record a sack or fumble, and didn’t intercept a pair of passes (he had 1 pick each of the last 3 years), he didn’t play well enough according to his contract despite still proving to be the best cover corner in the league.

CB: Tramon Williams, GB
In a year where teammate Clay Matthews was in the running for DPOY, it was Tramon Williams who had the more consistent season and kept Green Bay’s defense strong in the back. He had the responsibility of drawing the offense’s top receiver in a majority of the defense’s man-to-man snaps and has still allowed only a tad more than 2 completions a game, with opposing quarterbacks finding success on only 42.7% of passes thrown his way. He allowed close to 5.2 yards per attempt and only 2 touchdowns in the regular season, with one score coming on a short 2-yard rub play to Randy Moss. Tramon added to his 6 interceptions and 20 deflections with 3 more picks in the NFC playoffs, including the game-sealer against Philadelphia and a game-changing pick six before halftime in Atlanta that all but put an end to that game. He also broke up the final 4th down pass in the Super Bowl. His terrific technique and calculated “gambles” based on film study have allowed Tramon to surpass Woodson as the top cover corner in Green Bay and help his defense take the next step to elite.

SS: Troy Polamalu, PIT
Is there any question that Polamalu is the best safety in the game today? I know many Ravens fans will try to point to their man, but even he can’t do some of the things Troy does. He’s a headache for opposing quarterbacks to locate on the field, which stems from his ability to excel whether he’s 2 or 20 yards from the line of scrimmage. He can time blitzes with precision, close from 15 yards away to make a tackle in the backfield, play single high and pick off a pass thrown over the top, or come up and jar a football loose. Yes, these are all plays I can vividly picture from this year alone; and no, I didn’t even watch half of his games. He tied for 2nd among safeties in impact plays with a total of 27 in 14 games, including 7 interceptions and there are still two other areas we can look to when trying to measure his impact on the field. First, there’s something to be said about players who make plays at the right times and Polamalu does just that. We can go back to the second regular season match-up with the Ravens for evidence, or further back to opening weekend where he picked off Matt Ryan with less than 2 minutes to go to set up the Steelers for a game-winning field goal attempt (which was botched). Second, we can compare the difference in the Steelers’ defense from when he plays to when he doesn’t; since 2008, the Steelers allow only 14.2ppg when Polamalu suits up, but 21.2ppg when he doesn’t—an entire 7 point difference.

FS: Ed Reed, BAL
Only Ed Reed could miss 6 games then still go on to lead the league in interceptions. He’s one of the best deep zone safeties the league has ever seen and when he’s on the field, there’s no one better at it than he is. I’m sure some will question whether he earned his recognition because he didn’t play the entire season and to that I’ll respond by asking them if any other safety (Polamalu aside) was remotely close to his level when healthy. The answer is surely no. He tied Polamalu for 2nd place among all safeties with 27 impact plays this season, which included a position-high 16 pass deflections. Due in part to Reed, the Ravens allowed only 5 40+ yard plays all season (3 teams allowed only 4) with 2 coming to Brandon Lloyd without Reed in the starting line-up.

K: Rob Bironas, TEN
Bironas had a nearly flawless season hitting on 24 of 26 field goals with only one miss inside of 50 yards. He also finished inside the top 10 in kicking average and touchback percentage.

P: Matt McBriar, DAL
With the top average and net average (both by 0.9 yards), McBriar struck the ball consistently. He also put good hang time on his punts, allowing his unit to get under the punt and limit opponents to only 205 return yards, good for 6th in the league.

KR/PR: Devin Hester, CHI
Like Urlacher, some people were ready to relegate Hester to an average player again. Then came week 3: Green Bay. The floodgates suddenly opened. As the field slowed down again for him, Hester recaptured his rhythm and vision and continued on to set the record for most career punt return touchdowns by adding a trio to his 8 coming into the year. He was only given 12 kick return opportunities, but averaged 35.6 yards per return with 5 over 40 yards. By the end of the year, teams once again recognized Hester as the game’s most dangerous returner in history by kicking away from him at all costs.

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