Who Will Be the NFL's Best Offensive Stars at Each Position in 3 to 5 Years?

Recently, ESPN gave us fans something to occupy ourselves while the lockout shows actual signs of ending soon, a look toward the future of our favorite sports league, the NFL.

It is what they called the Dream Team of Tomorrow, and it is a nice little application that lets us all begin to get our heads back out of this lockout funk we've all been trapped in since that fateful day in March that officially started all this nonsense.

Now what it did was take a group of young players at each position, some who are already in the NFL and others that are currently highly regarded college players (and all of whom are poised to be the leaders at their respective positions for years to come) and let fans pick who they believed would be the best at each of those positions in the next three to five years.

Once that happened, ESPN took the votes and looked at who earned the most for each position, and the top one or two vote-getters at each position (varied depending on position) were put together to form that aforementioned Dream Team.

You can find the end results here.

Of course, there is always going to be debate over anything such as this, and I have my own opinion on how things should have turned out, and I'm going to show you how the team would end up if I could weigh more heavily on the voting myself.

I will first do the offense with this post and then follow up with one for the defense afterwards. Alright I'll go at position by position, starting with QB.

QB: Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers

Was there any question to which way this one was going?

Aaron Rodgers has already proven himself a worthy successor to Brett Favre within three years of becoming the new starting quarterback for the Packers, and if he continues to build on his already impressive resume in the fashion he has begun it, then he could be a legend in his own right by the time his career comes to a close.

He's got a 99.7 passer rating, 64.7 completion percentage, 12,394 passing yards and a 86:31 TD-to-INT ratio (plus 13 rush TDs) since becoming the starter in 2008, which are some of the best stats you'll ever come across within the first three years for a starter at this position.

Oh and don't forget, he just won the Super Bowl (and Super Bowl MVP) and has a team that is poised to rule the next decade.

Runners-Up

Sam Bradford, STL
Matt Ryan, ATL
Andrew Luck, College

RBs: Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans; Jamaal Charles, Kansas City Chiefs

This one was a bit harder for me to choose, because there were multiple backs who I think could be at the top of the game, especially someone as versatile and great out of the backfield like LeSean McCoy.

These two are better now though, and I think they will continue to be over the years, but it won't be by much.

CJ has proven his ability many times over in his three years in the league, rushing for at least 1,200 yards in every season, including 2,006 yards in '09.

He has done all this while being the only true option on the Titans for pretty much all his time in the NFL (except for some playmaking from Kenny Britt, but his off-the-field problems have prevented him from helping share the load much).

He should be able to keep that production up for years, and it can only improve if he ever gets more players around him to ease the offensive burden. Whether that happens in Tennessee is up for debate though.

He is reportedly planning to hold out once the lockout ends, but I'm sure they will do everything they can to satisfy him as soon as possible.

Charles is a player that’s been improving rapidly the past few years, and he showed just how explosive he can be with his 6.4 yard per carry average last season. And he also got over 1,400 yards rushing, all while splitting carries with Thomas Jones.

He will undoubtedly get more carries after that effort, and I’d be disappointed if he doesn’t get around 1,700 to 1,800 yards per season the next few years (barring injuries and/or bad coaching decisions of course).

Runners-Up

LeSean McCoy, PHI
Ray Rice, BAL
Arian Foster, HOU

WRs: Calvin Johnson, Detroit Lions; Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals

From the options that were available, I wasn't too challenged by this one.

I does hurt me a bit to not chooses Jennings as one of my two choices, but that's not as much a slight toward his abilities as it is acknowledging just how good I expect Johnson and Fitzgerald to still be from 2014-2016.

I fully expect Megatron to be the best in the game at that point, and the only reason he isn't there already is the revolving door at QB he has been faced with.

If Matt Stafford can become healthy and play consistently from here on out, I see him as a good-to-really-good QB in the league by 2014-2016, which means Johnson will be able to see his numbers rise dramatically to match with how good we already known him to be.

Despite the lack of help around him at pretty much every position most of his career, he has gained 4,191 yards receiving and caught 33 TDs, and these numbers could be doubled in the next three years with the help around him to take focus off him and a healthy Stafford.

And the worst part for future opponents? He will just turn 30 once the time period in discussion ends. Scary.

As for Fitzgerald, he has been so good, and he is so dedicated to improving himself throughout his career that I can't see him slowing down within the next five years.

I mean, with that exercise in futility the Cardinals had at QB during last season, he still posted 90 catches, 1,137 yards and six TDs. He has at least 90 receptions in five of the past six seasons, and that kind of production should continue for years whether or not he gets a QB worthy of throwing passes to him or not, in Arizona or anywhere else. 

Runners-Up

Dez Bryant, DAL
Hakeem Nicks, NYG
Greg Jennings, GB

TE: Vernon Davis, San Francisco 49ers

Again, another time where I wanted to pick a Packer, but I just couldn't based on what I've seen from the player he was up against.

Also, I need to see Finley actually play healthy for at least a season to know that his knee is not going to be a problem for years to come. It hurt me too to use that picture, but it details what Davis does so well that I had no choice.

Davis is a physical specimen that can be almost unstoppable out there on the field. My Packers saw it firsthand when he blew up our attempted coverage this year.

He has had a work ethic and focus that nobody can question ever since the game Singletary dropped his pants at halftime, and if it wasn't for him, this team would have been seeing 10 men in the box against the run game against everyone.

They would have no choice because they would have no one to catch the ball. Crabtree is the best they have at WR, but he is a diva who has shown he is more concerned with calling out teammates for their perceived lack of ability than he is with putting in the necessary effort to improve himself as a player as of yet so he isn't all that great an option.

He is the MVP of that team, and his stats only accentuate that (134 receptions, 1,879 receiving yards 20 TDs past two years).

He should keep constant with these kinds of stats for at least the duration of the time in question (he'll just turn 33 right during 2016 playoffs), and by then, he won't have the challenge of the current stalwarts such as Antonio Gates, Tony Gonzalez, etc., challenging his supremacy as top TE.

Runners-Up

Jermichael Finley, GB
Jermaine Gresham, CIN
Jason Witten, DAL 

OTs: Joe Thomas, Cleveland Browns; D'Brickashaw Ferguson, New York Jets

There were not too many that were in my considerations for the tops two spots at OT, more specifically there were four I thought highly of and the rest were at a tier below them.

I believe that these two are the best out of this "Elite Four" of sorts that will continue to be the best the league has to offer at the tackle spot for now and all the way until at least the end of the 2016 season.

Joe Thomas has been in the league four years, and he has been voted to the Pro Bowl every one of those years.

At a position that doesn't get much fan appreciation and notice like OT, that's quite an accomplishment because that means the players and coaches have been taking note of his performance and giving him his due.

Along with the Pro Bowl nominations, he has been voted as an All-Pro twice so far in his career, which means the press also knows his talent level and ability. For someone playing on a team that has been so consistently bad as the Browns, it just speaks even more to him that he has been able to garner the props he has earned.

He should only get even more acclaim when (more of an "if" though) this team turns around through a few more drafts and key signings. 

D'Brickashaw Ferguson is a bit of the opposite of Thomas. He has the team around him to succeed, but he doesn't anywhere near the same acclaim as others at his position.

When on the topic of offensive tackles, I always hear of Thomas, Jake Long and Ryan Clady first and then plenty of lesser-talented players than Ferguson.

What I think it is is the fact that his team is successful currently, unlike the teams of the other three I mentioned, so he gets lost in the success of the team.

The others are bright spots on pretty bad teams, so naturally they will get more focus than him. But if you look at what he does for his team, he should not be overlooked at all.

Without him manning the LT spot, there is no way the Jets rank first and fourth in rushing yards in '09 and '10, respectively.

And it also makes it much tougher for them to make the AFC Championship Game either of the past two years too.

Runners-Up

Jake Long, MIA
Ryan Clady, DEN
Rodger Saffold, STL 

OGs: Jahri Evans & Carl Nicks, New Orleans Saints

For the third time in four slides, to the displeasure of the Packers fan in me, another one just doesn't make my top spot. The fact that so many are coming close shows just how set for the future we are though, so I'm not too bummed by it.

This time it's Josh Sitton that misses the bill, but it would have been too hard for me to separate the combo of Nicks and Evans as they are two of the leagues current best at G, and they both play so well that I can't even really say one is better than the other, which means I can't legitimately choose one and not the other. 

These two are a huge part of why the Saints can be anywhere near as good as they are on offense. Without these two anchoring the middle of the line, there would be pressure in the face of Drew Brees all day.

He wouldn't be able to make nearly as many plays as he does, and the offense would suffer greatly since they rely so heavily on the passing game.

I'm sure the Saints are smart enough to do everything in their power to keep these two on the team form many years to come, and their play should (barring injury) keep allowing Sean Payton to be creative and attacking to his heart's content when his team has the ball beyond even that stated time period. 

Runners-Up

Josh Sitton, GB
Zane Beadles, DEN
Mike Iupati, SF 

C: Nick Mangold, New York Jets

Nick Mangold, in my mind and lots of other peoples', is the current best center in the entire league. Since his second season, I haven't even heard anyone even dare mention a single other player to be close.

He is the main reason nobody talks about D'Brickashaw Ferguson at LT for the Jets, because he is just that damn good at his job. Three years is a long time in football though, and anything could happen obviously between now and then that would render him as a player nowhere near his current caliber.

Also, there are the skilled and potential-filled Pouncey brothers that he will have to worry about seizing his throne as the best C in the league around that time too.

As long as Mangold continues to play the way he has already established (and he should for the duration of those seasons seeing as he will only be 32 when they end) though, they don't stand a chance of replacing him at the top of the C hierarchy.

Runners-Up

Maurkice Pouncey, PIT
Mike Pouncey, MIA
Ryan Kalil, CAR