He'd Be a Good Oakland Raider!: AFC North

This is part six of an eight part series detailing players that have jumped out at me and made me say, "Man!!  That guy would be a good Raider!"

The AFC North is becoming one of the stronger divisions in the league.  It's a division that consists of teams that were once part of the old AFC Central division.  Tradition is a major factor amongst these teams along with some odd spins.

Pittsburgh is the one team not related to the rest in some weird way.  The Cleveland Browns were once the dominant team of the NFL, coached by none other than Paul Brown.  Paul Brown left the Cleveland Browns after being fired by majority owner Art Modell and later went to the AFL as principal owner of the Cincinnati Bengals, natural geographical rivals to the Browns and the Steelers.  Baltimore in the meantime had the Colts, until that franchise up and moved in the middle of the night to Indianapolis.

Almost 30 years after Paul Brown became owner of the Bengals, Art Modell decided to move the beloved Browns to Baltimore.  Since Cleveland won the right to keep the name, 'Browns,' Modell was forced to start a new tradition and renamed the team to the Ravens.  A couple of years later, the NFL expanded and granted the Cleveland fans their beloved Browns.  Did you get all that?  All three of the teams hate the Steelers, along with hating each other.  Good stuff.

Before I start, here's what I've done so far and where I'll be going in the next few days:

• Mar. 29 - Raiders-Arizona_Cardinals-San_Francisco_49ers-He_d_be_a_good_Oakland_Raider_-_NFC_West-300308">NFC West
• Mar. 31 - Falcons-New_Orleans_Saints-He_d_Be_a_Good_Oakland_Raider_NFC_South_Targets-310308#comments">NFC South
• Apr. 1 - Bears-Green_Bay_Packers-He_d_Be_a_Good_Oakland_Raider_-_NFC_North-010408">NFC North
• Apr. 2 - Redskins-He_d_Be_a_Good_Oakland_Raider_NFC_EAST">NFC East
• Apr. 3 - Bills-Miami_Dolphins-New_England_Patriots-He_d_Be_a_Good_Oakland_Raider_AFC_EAST-030408">AFC East
• Apr. 4 - AFC North
• Apr. 5 - AFC South
• Apr. 7 - AFC West

I'm going to try and not make big reaches, so I'll find at least one player per team, but no promises past that.  If you have any suggestions, post them.

Pittsburgh Steelers

First off, even though the Steelers almost always have a good defense, until some of those players actually leave the team for equal or better success, I've got to chalk it up to the system. 

WR - Hines Ward:  In my opinion, he's the toughest receiver in the league.  Like many receivers the Steelers draft, he's a former high school and college quarterback converted to receiver.  If you had to pick one receiver on 4th and long with less than two minutes to go, you'd want this guy.  He's clutch, and he's not a prima-donna.  He'll block, go over the middle to get pounded, and never has alligator arms.

RB - Willie Parker:  You always have to give undrafted free agents a ton of credit.  It's one thing to make a roster when a team has nothing invested in you, but to become a starter, then a Pro Bowler, that's something special.  That's probably what puts him over the top to get on this list.  He's good, but he sometimes has trouble running between the tackles.  You have to love his speed and vision on most plays though, so he's on the list.

S - Troy Polamalu

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