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Creating the ultimate 53-man roster is pretty simple when there aren't any parameters. It's a more challenging exercise when operating under a salary cap. Roster construction becomes more complicated with other restrictions designed to prevent a squad from resembling last season's All-Pro team. The constraints bring more realism to selection proce s. The ground rules are as follows.1. The salary cap for the roster is $193.7 million although the actual NFL salary cap is $182.5 million for this year. The number being used is the league's average adjusted salary cap, according to NFLPA data. Each NFL team's working salary cap varies largely because unused cap room can be carried over from one Tony Gonzalez Jersey year to the next. For example, the have the NFL's highest adjusted salary cap at $211.9 million largely thanks to carrying over a little le s than $30.4 million of cap room, which is the most in the league. The Super Bowl LV champion have the lowest at $182.05 million, which is about $450,000 below the league-wide number. Situations like this typically occur when incentives earned during the previous season that weren't counted on the cap get accounted for without sufficient cap room carrying over from the prior year to make up the difference. 2. The NFL Draft is an e sential element of roster building for NFL teams. It is here also. One player from each round of the 2021 draft must be on the roster. The number requirement drops by one player for each year of the preceding three drafts (2018-2020). The limit of one player per round remains. Thus, only four 2018 draft picks are required. There's one other draft pick constraint. Only one 2017 first-round pick whose fifth-year option was exercised is allowed regardle s of whether he signed a contract extension. The 2017 first round is particularly strong with , , , , and . The limitation forces a choice to be made between them.3. The backups at each position are limited to players that aren't established starters, were reserves in 2020 or lost a starting job this year. This means young veterans cracking the lineup for the first time are eligible as reserves. Those starting last season only because of an injury are also fair game as backups. Players competing for starting jobs in the preseason or where there's a "by committee approach" at a position, usually running back, are also acceptable. A backfield containing and is prohibited since both are workhorse or every-down running backs. 4. Choosing a player that was given a franchise or transition designation in 2021 is optional. However, only one player receiving a 2021 designation can be selected.The salary cap dropping from $198.2 million in 2020 to $182.5 million this year reduced the adjusted salary cap by $17.15 million. The decrease had a major impact on the selection proce s.All players with cap numbers over $15 million were Zayne Anderson Jersey eliminated from consideration since cap space was at more of a premium than last year. ($16.793 million), ($20,754,950), Derrick Henry ($13,503,025), ($15,210,294), ($27,573,568) and ($17,158,525) are all luxuries I can't afford. A concerted effort was also made to keep cap numbers under $10 million. There are only two selections with cap numbers above $10 million. Selecting an elite quarterback was the top priority since the NFL is a pa ser-driven league. A cap friendly potential franchise quarterback is the most valuable commodity in the NFL. This is because of the roster flexibility provided by the low cap number. Choosing one was a nece sity. An emphasis was also placed on the offensive and defensive lines. The football adage of "it starts in the trenches" was a guiding principle in a sembling the roster. There are three starting cornerbacks instead of a traditional base defense (either 3-4 or 4-3) since five or more defensive backs are now used more than 60% percent of the time in the NFL.Long-range planning wasn't taken into account so worrying about future salary cap obligations, the amount of cap room that could be carried over, expiring contracts and drafting players that might develop into starters down the road wasn't nece sary. Different choices would have been made if these aspects had been considerations. Here's the team I a sembled with some Dorian O'Daniel Jersey of my thoughts behind the selections. The 2021 cap number for each player is in parentheses.Mahomes, the youngest player to ever win both NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP, has been the league's best pa ser since becoming a starter in 2018. He is the only quarterback besides to ever throw for at least 50 touchdowns and 5,000 or more yards in the same season, which he did in 2018. The Chiefs converting Mahomes' $21,716,905 third day of the league year roster bonus to signing bonus, which created just under $17,375 million of cap room, solidified the choice. An inexpensive lead ball carrier on a rookie contract, such as the ' , probably would have chosen if more cap resources had been devoted to quarterback. Cook had a career year in 2020. He was second in the NFL in rushing yards (1,557), yards from scrimmage (1,918) and rushing touchdowns (16) despite mi sing two games.Hopkins thrived in his debut campaign with the Cardinals after an offseason trade from the . He tied for second in the NFL in receptions (115) and was third in receiving yards (1,407) last season. Hopkins has the best hands in the busine s. He didn't drop a pa s in 2020. Hopkins will alternate with Diggs in working out of the slot.Diggs erased any doubts in 2020 about being a primary receiver threat after his unhappine s led to a trade from the Vikings to the Bills. He led the NFL with 127 receptions and 1,535 receiving yards. The 2019 second-round pick emerged as one of the NFL's most dangerous receiving threats last season. Metcalf caught 83 pa ses for a franchise-record 1,303 yards with 10 touchdowns Kelce had the finest season ever for a tight end in 2020. He set the single-season receiving yards record for a tight end with 1,416 yards. Kelce's 105 receptions are the fourth most a tight end has had in a season. His 11 touchdown catches tied for the league lead among tight ends.Williams didn't mi s a beat after sitting out the 2019 season. He earned Pro Bowl honors for the eighth time in his career in 2020. The 49ers also rewarded Williams in March by making him the league's highest-paid offensive lineman at $23.01 million per year. Thuney was Kansas City's top priority in revamping a beleaguered offensive line. The Mike Remmers Jersey Chiefs made Thuney the league's highest-paid guard in free agency by giving him a five-year, $80 million contract. Thuney is extremely reliable. Since 2016, his 5,222 snaps are second in the NFL among offensive linemen. Thuney is also capable of playing center.Linsley earned All-Pro honors in 2020 after a season in which he only allowed four quarterback pre sures (combined sacks, quarterback hurries and quarterback hits) and didn't have any holding penalties, according to Pro Football Focus. Because of this, the Chargers briefly made Linsley the NFL's highest-paid center on a five-year, $62.5 million deal.The 2018 fifth round pick provides tremendous value as he is still playing under his rookie contract. Teller earned second team All-Pro honors from the A sociated Pre s last season when he was arguably the NFL's best run blocking guard. The 2020 13th overall pick made an easy transition to the NFL. According to PFF, Wirfs only allowed one sack in 20 games as a rookie. The expectation is Bosa will be as good as new after tearing his left ACL in San Francisco's second game last season. Bosa was named 2019's NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. His 80 quarterback pre sures, according to PFF, were tied for NFL's sixth most in 2019. Bosa added four sacks in three games during San Francisco's playoff run that ended with a lo s to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV.Donald is unquestionably the NFL's most disruptive force from the interior of a defensive line. He easily led the NFL with 98 quarterback pre sures, according to PFF, en route to his third NFL Defensive Player of the Year award. Heyward is a Juan Thornhill Jersey run stuffer with pa s-rush ability. His 62 quarterback pre sures were tied for third among NFL interior defensive linemen last season, according to PFF. Since Kansas City is moving Jones from the interior to defensive end this season, so am I. He'll also take his fair share of snaps inside rushing the pa ser. Jones' 34 sacks since the start of the 2018 season are seventh most in the NFL.Warner started emergi
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