The USA Men’s National Basketball Team shows why no country in the world can even come close to the level of play displayed by Americans when it comes to the sport of basketball. Even with steamrolled victories in excess of 50 points, the margin of victory wouldn’t even touch that of if American football was an olympic sport.
Since American football is only played at a national professional level in just a handful of other countries, it wold be expected for nations to even be able to gather a full roster (likely made up of rugby players).
Though this will likely never become a reality in the near future, it’s fun to imagine what our country’s national team would look like.
PICK 6 put together just that, and added a few awesome accompanying graphics of some of our favorite NFL stars in stars and stripes.
For the base offense the USA would go with a simple 11 personnel package which consists of one running back, one tight end, and three wide receivers. 11 packages are also currently very popular around the NFL today. The 11 package allows for great flexibility in terms of what plays can be called, and also the amount of pass protections you can utilize. On a passing play a team can decide whether to keep both the tight end and the running back in pass protection or send both out on a route, depending on what look they get from the defense.
Quarterback
Starter: Cam Newton
Reserves: Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers
Running Back
Starter: Adrian Peterson
Reserves: Le’Veon Bell, Todd Gurley
Fullback
Starter: Patrick DiMarco
Wide Receiver
Starters: Antonio Brown, Julio Jones, Odell Beckham Jr
Reserves: DeAndre Hopkins, A.J. Green
Tight End
Starter: Rob Gronkowski
Reserve: Greg Olsen
Offensive Tackle
Starters: Joe Thomas, Tyron Smith
Reserves: Andrew Whitworth, Mitchell Schwartz
Offensive Guards
Starters: Marshall Yanda, Zack Martin
Reserves: Evan Mathis, David DeCastro
Center
Starter: Alex Mack
Reserve: Weston Richburg
On the defensive side of the ball, the team would go with a hybrid front similar to the New England Patriots defense. We want to be able to utilize the strengths of both the 3-4 and 4-3 defenses. The 3-4 package offers versatility and allows the use of very complex alignments. These could ultimately lead to some serious confusion for offensive line which could cause broken blocking assignments and more sacks. Couple that with the ability to run stunts and you have a true recipe for disaster for opposing offenses. The 4-3 scheme typically is the better front against the run. It takes pressure off the linebackers and allows them to roam around sideline-to-sideline more freely. The two defensive tackles eat up the middle of the field which forces offenses to start calling plays to get the running back outside the tackles. That’s where the free roam linebackers come into play and make the stop.
Defensive Ends
Starters: J.J. Watt, Muhammad Wilkerson
Reserves: Michael Bennett, Carlos Dunlap
Defensive Tackle
Starter(s): Aaron Donald, Fletcher Cox
Reserves: Kawaan Short, Geno Atkins
Outside Linebacker
Starters: Von Miller, Khalil Mack
Reserves: Jamie Collins, Lavonte David
Inside Linebacker
Starter(s): Luke Kuechly, Navarro Bowman
Reserve: Bobby Wagner
Cornerbacks
Starters: Richard Sherman, Patrick Peterson
Reserves: Chris Harris Jr, Josh Norman, Darelle Revis
Free Safety
Starter: Earl Thomas
Reserve: Tyrann Mathieu
Strong Safety
Starter: Kam Chancellor
Reserve: Reshad Jones
A good special teams unit can arguably make more of a difference than either the offense or defense. When you have a kicker that can hit 90% of his field goals, and a punter that can consistently pin opposing teams inside their twenty yard line, that will benefit your team greatly. When it came time to select returners, we wanted guys who are a threat to take it to the house whenever they get their hands on the ball. These players need to be some of the most elusive, and agile guys in the league. Most people wouldn’t even bother picking a long snapper. But we did. We know the value a reliable long snapper brings to a team. One bad snap can change the entire outlook of the game.
Kicker
Stephen Gostkowski
Punter
Johnny Hekker
Return Specialist
Tyler Lockett, Darren Sproles
Long Snapper
Jon Dorenbos
While selecting a Head Coach, only two names really came to mind. Ultimately, the choice seemed very easy. To lead Team USA you need to be innovative, you need to be a master game planner, you need to be an excellent leader, and you need to make the tough decisions. We think the choice was an obvious one.
Head Coach
Bill Belichick
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