Ramon Nivar's 2012 All-Pro Team

[Ramon Nivar]

I think it is a fair time to do this. If you don't care then don't post. Feel free to post your respects/hatred of what I put. I know some of my picks are probably weird, but whatever. I didn't touch PFF for this, nor will I respect their numbers too much at all in a response. Also, honorable mentions aren't necessarily in any order.

Offense
QB: Aaron Rodgers

Pretty much a no brainer here. Brees has a very solid argument, especially with his completion %, but Rodgers lack of INT's along with insane Y/A gives him the edge in my book.
Honorable Mention: Drew Brees, Tom Brady (Although a distant 3rd despite awesome numbers)

HB: Maurice Jones-Drew

He got a rushing title, averaged 4.68 YPC, scored 8 TD's and, most impressively, he was just shy of getting half of his teams total offensive yards. MJD is a tough runner, excellent receiver and can hold his own blocking.

Honorable Mention: Ray Rice, LeSean McCoy

FB: Vonta Leach

How much of Rice's turnaround is thanks to Leach? Enough for me to give him the All-Pro spot. He is an excellent blocker and good enough with the ball to not fall on his face.

Honorable Mention: Marcel Reece, Lawrence Vickers

WR: Calvin Johnson

Johnson lead the NFL in yardage and receivers in TD's. He is a freak who had an outstanding season. At one point he was on pace for over 20 TD's, but he cooled down to more "realistic" numbers.

WR: Larry Fitzgerald

Fitzgerald is a bit homer for me, but you can't admit there isn't at least a fair argument for him. Fitzgerald was in one of the worst passing situations in the NFL and still managed to make the best of it. In fact, you would have to lose about 200 receiving yards to get to the next statistical receiver with a bad QB (Marshall). He gets incredibly high and can beat double teams. He also only dropped two balls, the least of any receiver in the top 5 for receiving yardage. The only case against him is his low % of balls caught, but that is more on Skeleton/Kolb than him.

Honorable Mention: Wes Welker, Jordy Nelson, Mighty Mouse, Victor Cruz

TE: Rob Gronkowski

Incredible season for TE's. Gronkowski lead all TE's in receiving yards, all players in TD's and can block well enough.

Honorable Mention: Jimmy Graham, Jason Witten (Distant 3rd), Tony Gonzalez (Homer)

LT: Jermon Bushrod

Bushrod was actually pretty solid. After two seasons of mediocrity blocking for the pass heavy Drew Brees it all came together. Bushrod allowed only 3 sacks in 662 drop backs. Whether that is a testament to him improving or Brees having excellent pocket presence is up for opinion but from what I saw of him he was a very solid blocker all season. The Saints were one of the most efficient teams running to the left side.

Honorable Mention: Duane Brown, Jared Veldheer, Joe Thomas, Jason Peters

LG: Carl Nicks

I hate to give more Saints love, but Nicks was excellent as well. He only had one penalty all season, that is incredible. As mentioned above, the Saints were wonderful rushing to the left side and a lot can be attributed to Nicks.

Honorable Mention: Wade Smith, Nate Livings

OC: Nick Mangold

Probably shouldn't surprise anyone. Unless I completely missed someone Mangold was the best in the NFL this season.

Honorable Mention: Chris Myers, Brian De La Puente, Ryan Kalil

RG: Brian Waters

Maybe the media influenced me a little. Maybe the happy story of a possible Hall of Famer being cut by his long-time team and then being picked up right before the season and playing wonderfully did this to me. Or maybe Waters just was that good. From what I saw of Waters he was as excellent as ever in run blocking and could take on any tackle in the league. Even more important, he is excellent at getting out to the second level and blocking, a need for a Patriots lineman. Another piece of impressive is .5 sacks allowed on the pass heavy pats.

Honorable Mention: Mike Brisiel, Chris Snee, Cooper Carlisle, Marshall Yanda

RT: Eric Winston

Winston partially gets the nod because the rest of the Texans O-Line has been on honorable mention and I feel one of them has to be an All-Pro. He is an excellent run blocker and fits their zone-cut scheme perfectly with his ability to extend the play horizontally and he doesn't allow much penetration.

Honorable Mention: Nate Solder, Michael Oher, Anthony Davis

Defense
4-3
RE: Jason Pierre-Paul

An all-around monster. My personal DMVP. The thing that puts him above most other RE's is 8 TFL, double of what Jared Allen had. He has a motor that does not stop, EVER.

Honorable Mention: Jared Allen, Charles Johnson, Julius Peppers

UT/3-Technique: Geno Atkins

Atkins put together a surprisingly good season fairly quietly. All together, Atkins 8 sacks and 5 TFL are exactly what you look for in a 3 technique DT. His penetration is also a big reason Cincy had one of the best interior rush defenses in the NFL.

Honorable Mention: Henry Melton, Kevin Williams, Tommy Kelly

NT/1-Technique: Domata Peko

I hate to put two Bengals as the DT's, but both had excellent seasons. Peko is an extreme hustle player who is also very tough to block at his huge size. He gets good penetration but is also very stout at the point of attack.

Honorable Mention: Terrance Knighton, Alan Branch, Vince Wilfork

LE: Jason Babin

You cannot ignore those sack numbers. Babin constantly made the lesser pass blockers at right tackle pay and could even beat some of the better ones. A constant force at getting into the backfield, Babin also kept good contain.

Honorable Mention: Chris Clemons(VERY close), Jabaal Sheard

SLB: James Anderson

Anderson is a prototype of a 4-3 OLB. He can do it all, plays sideline-to-sideline and can shoot the gaps. He could tackle, defend passes and can get into the backfield. An all-around skilled player who gives his all.

Honorable Mention: Daryl Smith, Michael Boley

MLB: London Fletcher

One of the best MLB's of our generation, Fletcher is a machine when it comes to tackling running backs. He does more than just tackle them though, Fletcher is also excellent in coverage and can cover most players in this league; even at his old age.

Honorable Mention: Pat Angerer, David Hawthorne, Curtis Lofton

WLB: Sean Weatherspoon

Weatherspoon has been a huge impact player all season. Like everyone else, he is a do it all LB who can play sideline-to-sideline, can get into the backfield, can rush the passer and is excellent in coverage. Weatherspoon can also be credited for two wins that Atlanta had and is a huge impact player.

Honorable Mention: Von Miller, Lance Briggs

3-4
RE:Justin Smith

This is a no-brainer. Smith really came into the spotlight this season and is finally getting the respect he deserves. One of the biggest hustle players in the league.

Honorable Mention: Haloti Ngata(Close, but I've seen him get blown up at the line several times this season and have not seen Smith have any such happenings), Antonio Smith, Brett Keisel

NT: Jay Ratliff

Not a conventional 3-4 NT, but he is excellent at what he does. Ratliff gets penetration and pass rush; but the Cowboys interior rush defense did not suffer at all.His 6 TFL is a very impressive number from the position.

Honorable Mention: Sione Pouha, Terrence Cody

LE: Calais Campbell

Campbell is a step behind Justin Smith. He bring a ton of hustle, energy and talent to the field. His 8 sacks, 10 pass deflections and 7 TFL are all the far and away best of a 3-4 DE. When you add in the value of his energy and hype for the entire Cardinals defense I believe it could be argued that Campbell was the best 3-4 D-Lineman last season.

Honorable Mention: J.J. Watt, Muhammad Wilkerson

WLB: Terrell Suggs

Suggs makes a case for DPOY. His 14 sacks were top among weakside backers, his 7 FF were first among all NFL players and his 10 TFL were near the top of the league. Suggs was a huge player for the Ravens and the best in a stellar front 7.

Honorable Mention: Tamba Hali, James Harrison

ILB: Partick Willis

I don't think I need to say anything.

ILB: Daryl Washington

Washington is highly underrated ILB. He is a true do-it-all LB who has some very good numbers. 11 TFL, 2 picks, 5 sacks and 7 deflections. Washington came on strong as a sophomore and is a huge piece of Arizona's defense becoming formidable.

Honorable Mention: NaVorro Bowman (Very close), Ray Lewis, Derrick Johnson

SLB: DeMarcus Ware

DeMarcus Ware is of course a super star in this league. His great season rushing the passer was overshadowed a bit at the end due to missing the playoffs and JA, but he still managed 19.5 sacks. A good run stopper and even better pass rusher.

Honorable Mention: Connor Barwin, Cameron Wake

CB: Darrelle Revis

Yeah.

CB: Stanford Routt

Routt proved that his stellar play was not due to Nnamdi being there. As the Raiders best CB he still did an excellent job of shutting down opposing receivers. Teams are throwing at him and he is still stopping them.

Honorable Mention: Jabari Greer, Ike Taylor, Richard Sherman, Brandon Flowers, honestly there are a lot of good #1 corners.

SS: Adrian Wilson

I still love me some A-Dub. Arguably the best run stopping secondary player in the entire NFL he also played pretty well in pass defense and was a huge plus for Arizona and their weak secondary. Some people may not like that he only picked off 1 ball, but he did deflect 14 others and tallied 8 TFL.

Honorable Mention: Troy Polamalu, Kam Chancellor

FS: Antoine Bethea

Not gonna lie, do not know much about the position. Bethea gets it being the only worthwhile player in the secondary and one of only two in the back-7 who could do anything. He is an excellent run stopper and is still good in coverage.

Honorable Mention: Eric Weddle, Dashon Goldson, Earl Thomas

Special Teams
K: Rob Bironas

15 kicks over 40 yards made (Tied for best), 6 made over 50 (2nd), 91% overall is 4th in the NFL.

Honorable Mention: David Akers, Matt Bryant, Sebastian Janikowski

P: Britton Colquitt

2nd most kicks inside the 20, 7th in net average.

Honorable Mention: Andy Lee, Brandon Fields

KR: Joe McKnight

1st in yards/return, 4th in return yards, had a TD

Honorable Mention: Darren Sproles, Randall Cobb

PR: Patrick Peterson

Of course

Honorable Mention: Devin Hester, Javier Arenas, Ted Ginn Jr.




There you go. Hate it. Love it. Enjoy it.

[ElFuturoDeESPN]

Mmmmm, love seein' Kam and Richard Sherman gettin' some love as honorable mentions, at least they didn't go COMPLETELY under the radar.

[Delusional]

Glad to see Britton Colquitt getting some love! The Broncos MVP this season IMO.

[jneises21]

I thought Derrick Johnson was the #1 ILB in the game this year, but I also could be a homer

[jetsforever]

I like a lot of it. I think you went too homer with the Adrian Wilson but that was the one guy I knew that you were 100% going to have on your list .

Surprised you gave an honorable mention to Wilkerson as well, happy you gave one to Sione as well. Also, don't think I agree with you putting Weatherspoon over Von. It might be a homer choice because Von doing what he did, rookie season and at 4-3 was just too impressive to me.

[homestarunner93]

I used to really not like Peters, but I think you have to give him the nod at LT. Bushrod gets beat too much for me to consider him an All-Pro. Also, Mangold was not that great this year. Big name, not as big production. Kalil was definitely better. I would probably put Bowman over Washington and Taylor over Routt as well. Other than that, not too much to fault you on.

[homestarunner93]

Surprised you gave an honorable mention to Wilkerson as well, happy you gave one to Sione as well. Also, don't think I agree with you putting Weatherspoon over Von. It might be a homer choice because Von doing what he did, rookie season and at 4-3 was just too impressive to me.

If its an All-Pro team, rookie status doesn't matter.

[hugepatsfan]

Wilfork was great this year for NE. His best year. IDK about the guys on there though, so maybe they were better.

I like the Waters pick, and it was good to see Solder get some love. Hopefully Vollmer comes back healthy - Solder, Mankins, and Vollmer is a good start to a great offensive line for the future IMO.

[FortDetroit]

How do you not have Patrick Peterson at least as an honorable mention for PR? IIIRC, he had 4 return TDs this year which tied an NFL record.

[jetsforever]

If its an All-Pro team, rookie status doesn't matter.

True. But I still thought he was the better player. Just even more amazing that he did so well all in his rookie year.

[lvlheaded]

You down with JPP yeah you know me

[gilly]

How do you not have Patrick Peterson at least as an honorable mention for PR? IIIRC, he had 4 return TDs this year which tied an NFL record.

This.

[pacofunk64]

Good list...only disagreement is Allen should be 1st team ahead of Paul. Allen was a beast and produced more TO's and sacks.

[rawz]

Fixed

[Papa Chin]

Can't really argue with too much of it. I like the London Fletch nod, the guy gets very little recognition for a dominant reliable player.

I think the honorable mention of Wilkerson is absurd though haha, the guy did not have an All Pro campaign this year.

Just curious - what do you use to evaluate the offensive linemen?