Pittsburgh Panthers All-Time NFL Roster

On the day before the Panthers take on Oregon State in the Sun Bowl, we decided to come up with the Pitt Panthers all-time football roster, as I believe that it is one of the best. This roster is simply based on a players professional performance in the NFL, so their college play does not factor in. It is basically like coming up with a pro-bowl NFL team, but each player represents the college that they went to. And after some research, I believe that Pitt has one of the best teams of any college. Here is the roster--

OFFENSE

QB - Dan Marino

RB - Tony Dorsett

RB - Curtis Martin

WR - Larry Fitzgerald

WR - Antonio Bryant

TE - Mike Ditka

OL - Mark May

OL - Bill Fralic

OL - Jimbo Covert

OL - Russ Grimm

OL - Ruben Brown

DEFENSE

DE - Chris Doleman

DT - Tony Siragusa

DT -Sean Gilbert

DE - Hugh Green

LB - Joe Schmidt

LB - Rickey Jackson

LB - Marty Schottenheimer

CB - Darrelle Revis

CB - Shawntae Spencer

S - Hank Poteat

S - Anthony Dorsett

Head Coach - Pop Warner

Key reserves: Craig "Ironhead" Heyward, Jeff Christy, Mark Stepnoski, Jeff Otah, Gerald Hayes

If you break down the roster, there are some strengths and weaknesses. The offense looks to be one of the best of any college, with hall of famers at the QB, RB, and TE position. Dan Marino is arguable the best pro quarterback ever, definitely top five. At running back, you feature two of the six rushers in terms of rushing yards all-time. No other team would have that solid a combo at quarterback and running back. The offense also features the first NFL tight end hall of famer in Mike Ditka, and also features all five starting pro-bowl offensive lineman. If there is a weakness on the offense, it is at wide receivers, but the two starting wide receivers are both currently 1000 yard receivers this football season, with Larry Fitzgerald going over 1400 for the 3rd time in his career, and Antonio Bryant going over 1200 this season, his 2nd 1000 yard season of his career.

The weakness of the Pitt team appears to be the defense. The front 7 is pretty good, especially at defensive end and linebacker. This Pitt team features two of the top ten players in the NFL in all-time sacks, in Chris Doleman, and Rickey Jackson, and also features a hall of famer in linebacker Joe Schmidt. We all know how important it is in today's NFL to get pressure on the quarterback, and this Pitt all-time team would be able to do that. The weakness on the Pitt defense comes in the secondary. Darrelle Revis is one of the best young cornerbacks in the game, but at the other cornerback, and safety positions, this team shows some weakness.

All in all, I think if you were to make an NFL pro-bowl team based on where the players went to college, Pitt would be one of the best. The Pitt offense may be the best offense there is, and Pitt would easily destroy notable rivals Penn State or West Virginia. In fact, I welcome anyone from another school to make a similar list, and we can see which team is better.