Next in our series of all-college conference rosters are the conferences that make up the Group of 5 (G5), the American Athletic Conference (AAC), Conference USA (C-USA), the Mid-American Conference (MAC), the Mountain West Conference (MW), and the Sun Belt Conference. Each of these conferences individually don’t have the player pools to stick with our criteria, so we’ve combined them into one to make this All G5 roster. Take a look at what the 2017 roster looked like here, Group of 5 NFL Roster 2017. After looking at the pool of players, we decided to go with a gun, spread offense and a 3-4 base defense.
The Criteria
The criteria is very similar to last year with 3 main differences. The addition of a player on their 5th year extension, the spreading of rookie deals throughout different rounds of each draft, and making sure each college in the conference is represented.
- The roster must be under the current salary cap of $177.2M
- We use an even spread of rookie deals roughly based on league averages: 8 from 2017, 6 from 2016, 5 from 2015, and 1 player from the first round of the 2014 draft that is on their 5th year extension (where applicable)
- These rookie deals will also be spread throughout different rounds of that years draft, to better simulate an actual roster
- We will include one rookie from each round of the draft (were applicable)
- Each college in the conference will be represented
- We will have a well rounded roster that includes role players and special team
The Offense
Quarterbacks
| QBs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Ben Roethlisberger | Cooper Rush | Taylor Heinicke |
| PIT | DAL | CAR |
| $23.2M | $557K | $705K |
| Miami (OH) | Central Michigan | Old Dominion |
As tempting as it was to take Blake Bortles (more like his small $10M cap hit) at the top of this roster, there was one obvious choice, Ben Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger will go down as one of the top 5 greatest NFL players to come out of the MAC on his way to the Hall of Fame. Backing him up will be a pair of UDFA, from 2017 out of Central Michigan, Cooper Rush, and from 2015 out of Old Dominion, Taylor Heinicke.
3 roster spots filled, 50 left
$24.462M Spent | $152.738M Left
Running Backs
| RBs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Kareem Hunt | Jay Ajayi | Matt Breida |
| KC | PHI | SF |
| $778K | $1.907M | $557K |
| Toledo | Boise State | Georgia Southern |
| Ito Smith | ||
| ATL | ||
| $635K | ||
| Southern Miss |
There are a number of good backs to chose from out the G5, but one stands out, the Chiefs’ Kareem Hunt. He exploded onto the scene last year, leading the league in rushing after being a 3rd round pick out of Toledo. Backing him up will be currently Eagles running back, Jay Ajayi. Taking the role of 3rd down/change of pace back is an UDFA from 2017 out of Georgia Southern, Matt Breida. We round out the RBs with our first rookie of the roster, 4th round pick out of Southern Miss, Ito Smith.
4 roster spots filled, 46 left
$3.877M Spent | $148.861M Left
Wide Receivers
| WRs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Antonio Brown | Davante Adams | Kenny Golladay |
| PIT | GB | DET |
| $7.955M | $10.538M | $766K |
| Central Michigan | Fresno State | Northern Illinois |
| Michael Gallup | Justin Hardy | Trey Quinn |
| DAL | ATL | WAS |
| $702K | $840K | $480K |
| Colorado State | East Carolina | SMU |
A lot of solid choices at the wide receiver position for this roster. We decided to take advantage of some of our cap savings to splurge on 2 number 1 WRs at the top, Antonio Brown and Devante Adams. We traded back into the 3rd round of the 2017 draft to grab our 3rd WR in this spread offense, out of Northern Illinois, Kenny Golladay. Backing them up, we have our 3rd round pick out of Colorado State, Michael Gallup, and 4th round pick from 2015 out of ECU, Justin Hardy. We wrap things up with our 7th round pick, Mr. Irrelevant, Trey Quinn. Quinn will see a little time in the slot and contribute on special teams.
6 roster spots filled, 40 left
$21.281M Spent | $127.58M Left
Tight Ends
| TEs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Travis Kelce | Antonio Gates | Tyler Higbee |
| KC | LAC | LAR |
| $9.956M | $2.5M | $775K |
| Cincinnati | Kent State | Western Kentucky |
| Gerald Everett | ||
| LAR | ||
| $1.374M | ||
| South Alabama |
Starting at tight end is arguably the best TE in the league at the moment, from Cincinnati, Jason Kelce. Coming in on 2 TE sets is future Hall of Famer, Antonio Gates. As long as he’s out there doing his thing, we feel he deserves a spot on this roster. We round out the TEs with teammates from the LA Rams, Tyler Higbee and Gerald Everett.
4 roster spots filled, 36 left
$14.605M Spent | $112.975M Left
Offensive Line
| OL | ||
|---|---|---|
| T Joe Staley | T Charles Leno | G Brandon Brooks |
| SF | CHI | PHI |
| $10.919M | $5.9M | $4.768M |
| Central Michigan | Boise State | Miami (OH) |
| G Will Hernandez | C Jason Kelce | T Ty Sambrailo |
| NYG | PHI | ATL |
| $1.355M | $7.2M | $959K |
| UTEP | Cincinnati | Colorado State |
| G Wes Schweitzer | C Chase Roullier | |
| ATL | WAS | |
| $663K | $592K | |
| San Jose State | Wyoming |
Anchoring the offensive line at the left tackle position is former 1st round pick out of Central Michigan, Joe Staley. Starting opposite him is current Bears LT out of Boise State, Charles Leno. Moving down to the guards, we have veteran Brandon Brooks and our 2nd round pick out of UTEP, Will Hernandez. Finally we fill the center position with the other All-Pro Kelce brother, Jason Kelce. We have a pair of teammates from the Falcons backing up the tackles and guards, Ty Sambrailo and Wes Schweitzer. We round out the offensive line with the Redskins starting center, 6th round pick from 2017 out of Wyoming, Chase Roullier.
8 roster spots filled, 28 left
$32.356M Spent | $80.619M Left
Offensive Spending Breakdown
The offense accounted for 54.7% of the total team salary. We had a fairly even spread of money throughout the backfield (QB/RB), the outside (WR/TE), and the offensive line.
The Defense
Defensive Line
| DL | ||
|---|---|---|
| Matt Ioannidis | Linval Joseph | Muhammad Wilkerson |
| WAS | MIN | GB |
| $630K | $8.05M | $4.888M |
| Temple | East Carolina | Temple |
| Terrell McClain | LT Walton | Justin Hamilton |
| ATL | PIT | KC |
| $1.475M | $734K | $555K |
| South Florida | Central Michigan | Louisiana–Lafayette |
| Bruce Hector | ||
| PHI | ||
| $482K | ||
| South Florida |
Starting on this 3 man front, we have a pair of former Temple Owls, Muhammad Wilkerson and the Redskins’ 5th round pick from 2016, Matt Ioannidis. Starting at the nose is our last Pirate of the roster, Linval Joseph. Serving as primary backup for this defensive line is the Falcons’ Terrell McClain and the Steelers’ LT Walton. We round out the d-line with a pair of UDFA, from 2015 Justin Hamilton, and from this season out of South Florida, Bruce Hector.
7 roster spots filled, 21 left
$16.814M Spent | $63.805M Left
Linebackers
| LBs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Khalil Mack | Bobby Wagner | Haason Reddick |
| CHI | SEA | ARI |
| $13.8M | $13.6M | $3.063M |
| Buffalo | Utah State | Temple |
| Marcus Davenport | Shaquem Griffin | Shaquil Barrett |
| NO | SEA | DEN |
| $2.499M | $559K | $2.914M |
| UTSA | Central Flordia | Colorado State |
| Nick Vigil | Eddie Yarbrough | |
| CIN | BUF | |
| $829K | $555K | |
| Utah State | Wyoming |
Now we get to the real strength of this roster, the linebacking corps. We’ll start with our primary pass rusher, and only Buffalo Bull, Khalil Mack. Starting opposite him is our 1st round pick out of UTSA, Marcus Davenport. The 2 of them should be able to put some serious pressure on opposing QBs. Moving to the inside, we have our Mike backer, from Utah State, Bobby Wagner. He’ll be joined on the inside by our 1st round pick from 2017, Haason Reddick. Backing up the inside is the Bengals’ Nick Vigil and our 5th round pick out of UCF, Shaquem Griffin. Backing up the outside, we have veteran Shaquil Barrett and 2016 UDFA out of Wyoming, Eddie Yarbrough.
8 roster spots filled, 13 left
$37.819M Spent | $25.986M Left
Cornerbacks
| CBs | ||
|---|---|---|
| Byron Jones | William Jackson III | Bryce Callahan |
| DAL | CIN | CHI |
| $2.736M | $2.647M | $1.907 |
| Connecticut | Houston | Rice |
| Phillip Gaines | Orlando Scandrick | Cornell Armstrong |
| BUF | KC | MIA |
| $720K | $1.259M | $510K |
| Rice | Boise State | Southern Miss |
Starting on the outside, we have our only UConn alum, Byron Jones, and our 1st round pick from 2016 out of Houston, William Jackson. Just missing the cut was the Jagaurs’ AJ Bouye. His $15.5M cap hit is more than we ending up spending on the entire group of corners, and would have left us thin at other positions. Starting at nickel is the Bears’ Bryce Callahan. Providing primary depth is the Bills’ Phillips Gaines and the Chiefs’ Orlando Scandrick. Lastly, primarily providing special teams support, we have our 6th round pick from Southern Miss, Cornell Armstrong.
6 roster spots filled, 7 left
$9.779M Spent | $16.207M Left
Safeties
| Ss | ||
|---|---|---|
| Kevin Byard | Andrew Sendejo | Glover Quinn |
| TEN | MIN | DET |
| $1.009M | $3.5M | $6.517M |
| Middle Tennessee | Rice | New Mexico |
| George Iloka | ||
| MIN | ||
| $880K | ||
| Boise State |
Starting at free dafety for this All G5 roster is All Pro from Middle Tennessee, Kevin Byrd. Starting next to him at strong safety is the Vikings’ Andrew Sendejo. Backing them up are a pair of veterans, Glover quin and George Iloka. There were multiple choices for the safety position, but we felt this gave us the best combination talent, value, and experience.
4 roster spots filled, 3 left
$11.906M Spent | $4.301M Left
Defensive Spending Breakdown
The defense accounted for only 43.2% of the overall team spending. Rookies in key starting positions and cheap veterans kept the defensive spending down. The contracts of Khalil Mack and Bobby Wagner made the linebackers easily the most expensive group, accounting for almost 50% of the defensive spending and 21.4% of the entire roster spending.
Specialists and Head Coach
| ST and HC | ||
|---|---|---|
| K Jake Elliott | P Ryan Allen | LS Mike Windt |
| PHI | NE | LAC |
| $555K | $2M | $1.07M |
| Memphis | Louisiana Tech | Cincinnati |
| Head Coach | Sean McVay | Miami (OH) |
A lot of quality kickers to chose from for this G5 roster, Stephen Gostkowski, Will Lutz, Matt Prater, Chris Boswell, Jason Sanders, but we chose to go with the babyfaced 2017 5th round pick out of Memphis, Jake Elliott. We went with the lefty from New England, Ryan Allen, at punter. We finish out the roster with our long snapper from Cincinnati, Mike Windt.
Former wide receiver from Miami University Sean McVay will take over as head coach for this G5 roster. McVay would have caught passes from his starting QB on this roster in college, but his freshman year was the year Big Ben was drafted (2004).
3 roster spots filled, 0 left
$3.625M Spent | $676K Left
The Starting 22
| Offense | |
|---|---|
| QB | Ben Roethlisberger |
| RB | Kareem Hunt |
| Z | Antonio Brown |
| X | Davante Adams |
| Slot | Robby Anderson |
| TE | Travis Kelce |
| LT | Joe Staley |
| LG | Will Hernandez |
| C | Jason Kelce |
| RG | Brandon Brooks |
| RT | Charles Leno |
| Defense | |
|---|---|
| DE | Muhammad Wilkerson |
| NT | Linval Joseph |
| DE | Matt Ioannidis |
| Sam | Marcus Davenport |
| Mike | Bobby Wagner |
| Will | Haason Reddick |
| Jack | Khalil Mack |
| CB | Byron Jones |
| CB | William Jackson III |
| SS | Andrew Sendejo |
| FS | Kevin Byard |
2019 Draft
New for this year, we are including a mock draft for each team for the 2019 NFL Draft. Each player is within a round of where we have them projected as of the time of this post.
| Round | Player | Pos. | School |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ed Oliver | DT | Houston |
| 2 | Jamal Davis II | LB | Akron |
| 3 | Jamarius Way | WR | South Alabama |
| 4 | Max Scharping | OG | Northern Illinois |
| 5 | Nick Needham | CB | UTEP |
| 6 | Khalil Hodge | LB | Buffalo |
| 7 | Justin Clifton | S | Arkansas State |