It’s been awhile since I’ve updated things on my team in the RSP Writers Project, so this post will explain what I was thinking on the six players I selected in rounds six through eleven.

• Explanation of the RSP Writers Project and my picks in Round 1 and 2
• My Round 3 Pick
• My Picks in Rounds 4 and 5

Rounds 6/7

Already on team: QB Josh Freeman, WR Julio Jones, WR Brandon Marshall, LT D’Brickashaw Ferguson, 3-4 OLB/4-3 DE Paul Kruger
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After selecting Josh Freeman, Julio Jones and Brandon Marshall early in the draft, I needed to use my picks in rounds 4 and 5 to build the core of the rest of my team. The two most critical positions I had ignored were left tackle and pass rusher. Fortunately my need largely coincided with what was left: I didn’t see a true difference maker at corner or defensive tackle, so it was easy to focus on 3-4 outside linebackers and 4-3 ends.

On offense, my choice at left tackle was made easy once Jake Long, Trent Williams, and Tyron Smith went off the board at the end of round four. I had D’Brickashaw Ferguson with those four in my final tier of what I would consider above-average left tackles, and Ferguson ranked second to only Williams. His reputation took a bit of a hit with a a poor 2011 and the Jets general implosion since then, but Ferguson quietly had a nice rebound season last year. He allowed only two sacks in 2012 according to Pro Football Focus, and came in as PFF’s #7 left tackle. He’ll only turn 30 in December, so I think my team can count on him for another five years at least. He’s got size and great athleticism, and keeps himself in good shape, so he seems unlikely to fall off a click as he ages. As the 14th offensive tackle off the board, I think Ferguson represents strong value this late in the draft. He’s capable of being a franchise left tackle, which makes him a pick I can feel comfortable about at the end of the fourth round.
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On Tuesday, I discussed the RSP Football Writers Project, a 32-team start-up draft of every player in the NFL.  I was assigned the 32nd pick, which does bring with it one advantage.  In order to balance the values assigned with the random draft order, the selection picks for the third round is “reversed”, a common fantasy football technique known as 3rd Round Reversal.  So while I picked last in round one after 18 quarterbacks had been drafted, I got to pick first in rounds two and three.

As you now know, I drafted Josh Freeman and Julio Jones with picks 32 and 33.  At 65, there were several ways I could go.

• I think it’s hard to overestimate the value of a great passing game, so adding a receiver or tight end isan attractive option. That’s doubly true when Brandon Marshall and Aaron Hernandez were still available. Marshall was my highest-ranked receiver from last year and is relatively young; he turns 29 this month. Hernandez is 23 and is an incredible asset in the passing game.
• If you think of the big positions in the NFL as quarterback, pass rusher, and left tackle, then you probably want to fill those slots as quickly as possible. At left tackle, Duane Brown, Joe Thomas, Matt Kalil, and Nate Solder are gone. Michael Roos is a solid pick, but at 31 in October, does he fit my model of fielding a young team? Ryan Clady was a player I might have taken, but he was selected just a few picks before I was up. I didn’t see an elite player available, so I crossed this off the list (a few picks later, Matt Waldman selected Russell Okung.)
• On the pass-rusher front, Von Miller, Aldon Smith, Clay Matthews, Cameron Wake, Jason Pierre-Paul, DeMarcus Ware, Charles Johnson are all gone, as are 3-4 defensive ends J.J. Watt, Calais Campbell, Muhammad Wilkerson and Justin Smith. While there were some attractive options out there, my hope is one of them will be around when I pick again. The most interesting option was Mario Williams, a player I really wanted to take, but his struggles in 2012 were too significant to overlook.

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Matt Waldman and Sigmund Bloom are once again running the RSP Football Writers Project this off-season. Last year, a salary cap value was assigned to each player and we were asked to assemble our team within the confines of a salary cap. You can see my team here, but my basic philosophy was to invest heavily in building an elite passing offense. One of the questions we had to answer was who were our stars and why did we pick them? I wrote:

Peyton Manning is the key. With an elite quarterback and competent weapons, you can just about pencil your team in for the playoffs. With Jimmy Graham and Victor Cruz, I’ve got one player who ranked in the top three in receptions and one in the top three in receiving yards in 2011. Those three can form the cornerstone of the offense for the next three-to-five years.

This year, the RSP Football Writers Project (you can see the draft recap here or follow the picks on twitter here) is being run as a 32-team start-up draft with fantasy football style serpentine order that includes a third-round reversal. Trades are not allowed and the player pool will consist of veterans only (i.e., no players available in the 2013 draft).

We were told the draft order was random, although I choose to believe that I was assigned pick #32 because of my performance in last year’s project. Having the 32nd and 33rd picks in the draft placed me in a unique position, and I figured I’d explain my team-building methods here.
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Yesterday, I told you about the RSP Writers Project and showed you my roster. As a reminder, here’s the full 53-man team:

QB1	Peyton Manning		LDE1	Shea McClellin
QB2	Colt McCoy		LDE2	Cameron Heyward
QB3	Nate Davis		DT1	Phil Taylor
RB1	Kendall Hunter		DT2	Jared Crick
RB2	Pierre Thomas		DT3	Terrence Cody
RB3	LaMichael James		DT4	Martin Tevaseu
RB4	John Clay		RDE1	Vinny Curry
WR2	Victor Cruz		RDE2	Adam Carriker
WR1	Torrey Smith		SLB1	Leroy Hill
WR3	Anquan Boldin		SLB2	Aaron Maybin
WR4	T.Y. Hilton		MLB1	A.J. Hawk
WR5	Ted Ginn Jr.		MLB2	Nick Roach
WR6	Wallace Wright		MLB3	Greg Jones
TE1	Jimmy Graham		WLB1	Jameel McClain
TE2	Delanie Walker		WLB2	Clark Haggans
TE3	Matthew Mulligan	LCB1	Morris Claiborne
FB1	Charles Clay		LCB2	Kyle Wilson
LT1	Jonathan Martin		SS1	Eric Berry
RT1	Todd Herremans		SS2	James Butler
LT2	Levy Adcock		SS3	James Ihedigbo
RT2	Vlad Ducasse		FS1	Ryan Clark
LG1	Charlie Johnson		FS2	Dwight Lowery
RG1	Chad Rinehart		RCB1	Ike Taylor
LG2	Robert T Griffin	RCB2	Will D. Allen
RG2	Robert Turner			
C1	Max Unger		K1	Ryan Longwell
C2	Kris O'Dowd		P1	Kevin Huber

But the actual player selections are far less interesting than the reasoning behind the players chosen. You can view the full Q&A session I had with Matt Waldman about my roster, but let me explain two of the philosophies that influenced my roster decisions.

1) Offensive lineman when pass blocking are more like defensive players than offensive ones

On pass plays, offensive lineman retreat and block; their goal is to prevent the aggressors from reaching the quarterback. When DeMarcus Ware tries to get by David Diehl to get to Eli Manning, Ware is the aggressor and Diehl the defender. In those situations, offensive lineman are essentially gatekeepers, and the key to an effective gate is more about the strength of the weakest link rather than the strength of strongest one. When I built my offensive line, my goal was to avoid having any obvious weakness on which opposing defensive coordinators could focus. If you have $25 million to spend on your offensive line, the smartest move in my opinion is to evenly distribute that money, and that’s exactly what I did. While none of the starters cost more than $5 million per year, none of them cost less than $4.5 million per year, either. Essentially, the whole really is worth more than the sum of its parts.

2) For the same reason, the value of individual defensive players can be overrated

As a Jets fan, I watched Darrelle Revis have a magnificent season in 2009, shutting down practically every wide receiver and helping the other ten members on defense. He was the primary reason the Jets ranked #1 in nearly every major defensive category that season. Then, in the AFC Championship Game, Peyton Manning torched the rest of the Jets defense, as Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie combined for 18 catches for 274 yards and 2 touchdowns. If there’s a weak spot on your defense, an elite quarterback will find it. Even two great corners can be neutralized if you have poor safety play. So in building a defense, my philosophy was less focused on finding stars on defense, and more on avoiding having any weak links. Star players are great, but I think — especially given the constraints of a salary cap — building a capable pass defense is less about finding players to build around and more about avoiding having to field players whom opposing quarterbacks would be eager target.

You can read my full Q&A here.

Matt Waldman is best known for his annual publication, The Rookie Scouting Portfolio, the most comprehensive evaluation of draft prospects at the skill positions I’ve ever seen. If you’re unfamiliar, you can view all of Matt’s work at his website, MattWaldmanRSP.com. In addition to being a good friend, Waldman and I also work together at Footballguys.com. So when he told me about his new idea — The RSP Writers Project — I instantly signed up. And in addition to getting some of the best football writers in the internet community to compete, Waldman has also opened his project to anyone who wants to participate.

How does it work? We were asked to build a 53-man roster as if we were constructing our own NFL team. Each player has been assigned a salary and each owner is given a salary cap of $150 million. In addition to picking our players, we were asked to explain the logic behind makeup of our team, along with the schemes and the plays that we would use. You can download the instructions and the Q&A and submit your own team.

I went extremely heavy on offense (more on that tomorrow), spending $93.5 million of my salary on that side of the ball. You can view my full roster here, which lists the salary values and my short explanations for why I chose each player. But here’s a quick look at who I selected:

QB1	Peyton Manning		LDE1	Shea McClellin
QB2	Colt McCoy		LDE2	Cameron Heyward
QB3	Nate Davis		DT1	Phil Taylor
RB1	Kendall Hunter		DT2	Jared Crick
RB2	Pierre Thomas		DT3	Terrence Cody
RB3	LaMichael James		DT4	Martin Tevaseu
RB4	John Clay		RDE1	Vinny Curry
WR2	Victor Cruz		RDE2	Adam Carriker
WR1	Torrey Smith		SLB1	Leroy Hill
WR3	Anquan Boldin		SLB2	Aaron Maybin
WR4	T.Y. Hilton		MLB1	A.J. Hawk
WR5	Ted Ginn Jr.		MLB2	Nick Roach
WR6	Wallace Wright		MLB3	Greg Jones
TE1	Jimmy Graham		WLB1	Jameel McClain
TE2	Delanie Walker		WLB2	Clark Haggans
TE3	Matthew Mulligan	LCB1	Morris Claiborne
FB1	Charles Clay		LCB2	Kyle Wilson
LT1	Jonathan Martin		SS1	Eric Berry
RT1	Todd Herremans		SS2	James Butler
LT2	Levy Adcock		SS3	James Ihedigbo
RT2	Vlad Ducasse		FS1	Ryan Clark
LG1	Charlie Johnson		FS2	Dwight Lowery
RG1	Chad Rinehart		RCB1	Ike Taylor
LG2	Robert T Griffin	RCB2	Will D. Allen
RG2	Robert Turner			
C1	Max Unger		K1	Ryan Longwell
C2	Kris O'Dowd		P1	Kevin Huber

Let me know what you think, and consider submitting your own team or view other rosters here. Tomorrow, I’ll add my comments on why I chose the players I did.