Drafting The All-Time Packers Roster: Literally, We Had a Draft

Everyone knows that the Packers have a plethora of star players from to choose from if you’re creating an all-time roster. To illustrate how many stars there really have been the two creators of PackersHistory.com took a different approach when looking all-time Packers roster.

In a rotating draft, the two of us went position by position choosing our players for our roster. Once a player is chosen, the other could not select him.

To keep the player pools clean we limited the available players to the “Modern Era” only, roughly 1960-Present Day.

We wanted to show the depth of quality players specifically from the modern era of Packers history. Of course, had we included players from the early 1920s to the late 1950s names like Don Hutson, Tony Canadeo, Clarke Hinkle, Bobby Dillon, Billy Howton, Mike Michalske, Charley Brock and others would have been considered.

Below is how our two teams shook out:

These two rosters show us a few things:

1. The Packers are historic enough to put two absolutely dominant squads “out on the field” from just the last 60 years. Remember, the first 40 years of Packers history are not represented on these rosters.
2. Either one of these split rosters could rival most NFL team’s complete all-time squad. Seriously, put together an all-time team for the Vikings, Lions, Seahawks, Cardinals… the list goes on and on. Either one of these two teams could compete with most.
3. There isn’t an obvious winner here. If these two squads were to magically play in football heaven someday who do you think would win in that game?
4. The quarterback depth is really insane. A quarterback that won three straight AP MVP Awards is on the bench. Think about that. No other NFL franchise can compete with that, obviously.

Below are the players that were chosen for each team in the order that we set the draft up in. We went QB, RB, FB, TE, WR1, WR2, T, G, C, G, T and then DE, DT, DT, DE, OLB, ILB, OLB, CB, S, S, CB for the 22 starters for each squad. Then, obviously, chose K, KR and then 5 subs each for offense and defense.

David won the coin toss and the very first pick off the board was him taking Bart Starr. Aaron Rodgers was second, taken by Daniel.

The first defensive player taken was Willie Davis by Daniel followed by David selecting Reggie White.

Here’s a look at the spreadsheet that was filled out live, by position, when the draft was conducted.

Daniel has Aaron Rodgers throwing to James Lofton, Antonio Freeman and Davante Adams. With the added security that if he was hurt, Brett Favre could come in to heave the ball downfield. Throw in the versatility of Paul Hornung in that backfield and two HOF offensive linemen — wow.

David, on the other hand, has Bart Starr throwing to Sterling Sharpe, Donald Driver and Jordy Nelson with the two all-time leading rushers in the backfield (Ahman Green and Jim Taylor). Sheesh. But behind Starr is Don Majkowski, so better hope No. 15 stays healthy!

Defensively, David’s linebackers are stronger with Ray Nitschke, Clay Matthews and John Anderson as three playmaking linebackers. They’d play behind a defensive line with two HOFers. Although David’s defensive backfield has “just” one HOF inductee.

As noted, Daniel’s linebackers are not the strength of his defense (David Robinson being the absolute leader of the group). But his defensive backfield boasts Willie Wood and Charles Woodson. Can you imagine how many plays they’d make? Willie Davis would lead the defensive line, obviously, but who doesn’t love seeing the “Gravedigger” Gilbert Brown at DT?

Speaking of fan-favorites. Each took a traditional blocking fullback for as a sub, right after each other that is. Daniel got John “Kuuuuuuhn” and David got William Henderson. What’s nice about Packers modern history is that there were two kickers worth having on all-time rosters, so that worked out well, too.

If you’re curious about who we’d put on our all-time team, or starting lineup, if we weren’t each drafting a squad, here’s our all-time Packers roster (including the entire 100 year history of the team):

As you can see, our two squads were split pretty evenly and well-represented on the all-time team. As mentioned, in this version we went truly all-time when compiling the team. However the only players from before the “Modern Era” to crack the squad were Don Hutson and Mike Michalske.

Thanks for going on this Packers adventure with us, there is no shortage of fun when analyzing this 100 year old franchise is there?

Anyway, who makes your all-time Packers roster or starting lineup? What did we get wrong?