It has been a joy to watch this year's World Cup. With so many of the world's biggest stars showing up and scoring in bunches, all three host countries advancing to the knockout stages and more goals per game in the group stage than in any tournament since 1970, the planet's biggest sporting event has delivered in spades so far.
Naturally, of course, it would be a dream to see this for (our American brand of) football as well. There has been a World Cup of American Football in the past, but with so many players coming from the United States, it has generally been a one-sided affair. U.S. teams have lost games in international competition, and we'll see how flag football plays out in the 2028 Olympics, but a best-on-best international tournament involving the top players on the planet wouldn't be a fair fight.
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Of course, there's another way to frame things. Instead of an international competition, what if we turned this into a domestic battle divided by region? Australia has the State of Origin competition in rugby, in which players suit up for the area where they started their careers in what amounts to an all-star competition. State of Origin is a two-team competition, but across America, we could expand things quite a bit.
So, inspired by the World Cup, I've gone through active NFL rosters and split the country into eight teams. Different areas naturally have unique styles of play that have evolved as a product of everything from local weather to the influence of the college teams in the area. Today, we're going to see which of those eight teams can put together the best 30-man roster and win our totally made-up "Domestic Cup of American Football."
Let's start with my guidelines in putting together these rosters.
Jump to: How we put together the rosters California | Northeast | South Atlantic Florida | Southeast | Southwest Texas | Midwest Who would win the DCAF?
How I put together these rosters
OK, here are the rules I used in putting together these lineups:
1. We're using 30-man lineups under specific constraints. On offense, each team has to select two quarterbacks, one running back, three wide receivers, one tight end, six offensive linemen and one bonus skill-position playmaker. On defense, they're lining up three edge rushers, three defensive tackles, two linebackers and six defensive backs. A kicker and a punter bring us to 30. Is this perfect? Of course not. But it allows us to get a representative sample of the stars each region can bring to the table.