The 2020 NFL Draft is tonight and in honor of something actually happening in the sports world, we wanted to put together the all-time Los Angeles Lakers football team.
The rules are that players can only appear in one position on the football team and they cannot be someone who was only briefly on the team. We are including only players that have at least 80 games played in their career with the Lakers.
We are doing the standard 11-man offense and 11-man defense. On offense, we are using one quarterback, one running back, one tight end five offensive lineman and three receivers to get to 11. On defense, we are using two cornerbacks, two safeties, three linebackers and four defensive linemen.
The all-time Los Angeles Lakers as a football team:
Quarterback: Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson is the greatest passer in NBA history and it is only fair that he is the one passing the rock around. However, we might need to question his leadership ability, as his tenure in the front office with the Los Angeles Lakers did not end smoothly.
Running back: Jerry West
We need someone who is not too big for the running back position that is athletic enough to handle the position. Jerry West is just that and he would slot in nicely as a dual-threat running back.
Wide receivers: Kobe Bryant, Elgin Baylor, Brandon Ingram
One of these names obviously doesn’t belong with the others but they all fit into what we are looking for at our Los Angeles Lakers wide receiver position. Kobe Bryant and Elgin Baylor are both very athletic wings that could utilize that athleticism while Ingram could be the lengthy deep-field option that uses his wingspan to his advantage.
Tight end: LeBron James
C’mon, this one is obvious as it is the dream scenario that has been talked about before. What if LeBron James decided to play football and was a tight end? Well, he could have become the greatest tight end in NFL history.
Offensive line: Anthony Davis (LT), Norm Nixon (LG), Gail Goodrich (C), Derek Fisher (RG), Andrew Bynum (RT)
This is easily the hardest part of the team to fill as there simply are not people in the NBA that have the same physique as an offensive lineman. So we had to come up with some kind of gameplan here.
The plan was to draft tackles that are physical, have the size and could hold up against pass-rushers. Then, on the inside, we had to draft guards who are short enough to not get in the quarterback’s way that we thought could be strong enough to hold their own. It is not perfect.
Defensive line: Michael Cooper (LE), Shaquille O’Neal (DT), Wilt Chamberlain (DT), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (RE)
Here we have four defensive menaces that might not be quick enough to be in other areas of the defense but would dominate the defensive line. Michael Cooper would the speed pass rusher with Shaq, Wilt and Kareem dominating the O-line.
Linebackers: Ron Artest, A.C. Green, Jamaal Wilkes
We want to get physical defensive players that we know can anchor the middle of the field and lead the offense with no problems. We get that in these three players.
Cornerbacks: Byron Scott, James Worthy
We need someone who could steal the ball out of the air at cornerback, so we are taking the players with the third and fourth most steals in franchise history.
Safeties: Eddie Jones, Trevor Ariza
I want two athletic players here who could also take the ball away from the quarterback and we get that in Eddie Jones and Trevor Ariza. Jones has the most steals per game in Los Angeles Lakers history, Ariza is sixth.