Constructing the best 53-man roster seems like an easy task, but it becomes a little harder to create a team while staying under the salary cap, using actual salary-cap numbers.So, what would the best po sible team look like? The goal is to build a roster that resembles the most recent Pro Bowl squads, but when there are parameters designed to help limit a team's ability to have an embarra sment of riches, with a more realistic selection proce s, it becomes challenging.Here's a look at my Ultimate Roster for 2018. The ground rules are as follows.Parameters1. The salary cap for the roster is $188.71 million. The actual salary cap is $177.2 million for this year. The number being used is the league's average adjusted salary cap according to NFLPA data. Each 's working salary cap varies largely because unused cap room can be carried over from one year to the next. For example, the have league's highest adjusted salary cap at slightly over $241.263 million and the have the lowest at just under $176.486 million. This is because of incentives earned during the 2017 season that weren't counting on Baltimore's cap being accounted for now, without having cap Bryan Reynolds Jersey room to carry over from last year to cover the difference. More on the NFL 2. The is an e sential element of roster building for NFL teams, so it is here also. One player from each round of the 2018 draft must be on the roster. The number requirement drops by one player for each year of the preceding three drafts (2015-2017). The limit of one player per round remains. Thus, only four 2015 draft picks are required. There's one other draft-pick constraint. Only one 2014 first-round pick whose fifth-year option was exercised is allowed, regardle s of whether Trevor Williams Jersey he signed a contract extension. The 2014 first round is particularly strong with Pro Bowlers , Jr., , and . This limitation forces a choice to be made between them. Selecting one isn't a nece sity. 3. The backups at each position are limited to players who aren't established starters, so young veterans cracking the lineup for the first time are eligible. Second-year players who didn't start at least half of their team's games or play a minimum of 50 percent of the snaps on their side of the ball qualify as reserves. Players competing for starting jobs or where there's a "committee approach" at a position, usually running back, are also acceptable. A backfield containing and is prohibited since both are workhorse or every-down running backs. 4. There's one big allowance being made defensively. Three starting cornerbacks are acceptable without sacrificing a starter in a traditional base defense, since five or more defensive backs are now used over 60% percent of the time in the NFL. The result is 12 defensive starters 5. Choosing a player that was given a franchise or transition designation in 2018 is optional. However, only one player receiving a 2018 designation can be selected. Roster-building philosophyThe NFL is a quarterback-driven league, so choosing an elite quarterback was the top priority. The old football adage of "it starts in the trenches" was also a guiding principle in a sembling the roster. The Super Bowl LII champion subscribe to this view. Their line depth was a key component to their Super Bowl victory.Long-range planning wasn't taken into account, so worrying about 2019 salary-cap obligations, the amount of cap room that could be carried over, expiring contracts and drafting players that might develop into starters in the future wasn't nece sary. Different choices would have been made if these aspects had been considerations. For example, having a talented young pa s rusher for the next several seasons on what should prove to be a cost-effective contract would have made a roster nece sity. The initial version of the team was done without paying attention to cost. Well over $200 million of cap space was used. The wish-list team had to be drastically reconfigured in order to comply with the constraints. Here's the team I a sembled with some of my thoughts Josh Harrison Jersey behind the selections. The 2018 cap number for each player is in parentheses.Starters: OffenseQB , ($20.9 Million) may be the greatest NFL player of all-time but Rodgers is arguably the league's best quarterback. Rodgers' value to the Packers was never more evident than last year, when Green Bay had a 3-6 record in the nine games Rodgers mi sed because of a broken collarbone. The roster flexibility Eagles quarterback would have provided with a $7,282,245 cap number in 2018, the third year of his rookie contract, would have been too good to pa s if he were healthy. Wentz was the leading candidate for league MVP before tearing multiple ligaments in his left knee late last Jason Martin Jersey season.RB , ($2,071,358)Being cost effective with low mileage were primary considerations for a lead ball carrier. The 2015 third-round pick is in the final year of his rookie contract after mi sing almost all of the 2017 season with a broken left wrist. Johnson arguably became the NFL's best dual-threat running back during a breakout 2016 campaign in which he led the league with 2,118 yards from scrimmage while earning first team All-Pro honors. WR , ($7.995 Million)No wide receiver has come close to matching Brown's production over the last five years. Brown leads the NFL in receptions (582), receiving yards (7,848) and touchdown catches (52) since the start of the 2013 season. WR , ($1,402,749)Thomas holds the NFL record for the most catches (196) during the first two seasons of an NFL career. The 2016 second-round pick's season averages for his career are 96 receptions, 1,191 receiving yards and seven touchdown catches. Thomas will spend considerable time in slot. According to Pro Football Focus, he was the NFL's most effective wide receiver from the slot although he lined up there le s than a quarter of the time.WR , ($704,996)Hill had a breakout season in 2017 with 75 catches and 1,183 receiving yards. He is a dangerous deep threat but will rotate with Thomas in operating out of the slot, where he excelled when used in that capacity as a rookie in 2016. Hill is also an excellent kick and punt returner but probably won't get much of an opportunity to showcase those skills. TE , Eagles ($4,994,380)Ertz earned his first Pro Bowl berth in Jordy Mercer Jersey 2017 during what some inaccurately described as his coming-out party. He and and are the only two tight ends to have at least 70 catches and 800 receiving yards in each of the last three seasons. The big difference in 2018 cap numbers tips the scales in favor of Ertz over Kelce and , the NFL's best tight end. Gronkowski and Kelce's respective cap numbers are $11,781,465 and $9,959,770. LT , Packers ($11.075 Million)Keeping Rodgers upright in the pocket is of the utmost importance. That's where Bakhtiari comes in handy. He has establ