What's the best team this year's salary cap can buy? This is my third year building a roster that answers that very question.
The rules are simple: Stay under the $155,270,000 cap, and no rookies. Otherwise, it's my job to put together a well-balanced, versatile team, with depth at each position and players who complement each other. All while navigating prohibitive contract extensions to players I'd otherwise like to include -- such as Tyrod Taylor, Darius Slay and Tyrann Mathieu, all of whom signed big deals this offseason.
There are, of course, hundreds of great players in the NFL and thousands of ways to craft this team. But I am certain that even the 1972 Miami Dolphins would agree that this year's team, with everyone from Tom Brady to DeAndre Hopkins to J.J. Watt, would challenge their undefeated season.
Here's my ultimate 53-man NFL roster.
(I put asterisks next to the players who would start for this team in Week 1.)
Quarterback
*Tom Brady, New England ($14,000,000): I know he'll miss the first four games of the regular season due to suspension, but I don't care. If you look around the league at veteran quarterbacks past their rookie deals, you won't find a better bargain than with Brady. He's a leader; he's experienced; and he's a winner. And at a $14 million cap charge, he's very affordable.