🦅 Your call, Nick | Sports Daily Newsletter

As we created our Quarter-Century Teams and “Our 25 for the Next 25″ list for each of the four Boston sports teams, some of the decisions were easy.
Tom Brady was pretty clearly going to be the quarterback.
Who was the Red Sox DH? Spoiler alert: You won’t be surprised. And don’t worry, we didn’t leave Paul Pierce off of the Celtics squad.
But some of them were tougher.
For this project, we invited our current coverage teams, as well as anyone who covered New England for MassLive and before that, the Springfield Republican, to vote. Our Quarter-Century Team voting for their quarter-century teams.
We asked each voter for their hardest decision. Below are some of their answers. Notably some of the choices from voters below didn’t win:
Red Sox center fielder?
The toughest decision here was in center field, where there are a lot of pretty good players (Johnny Damon, Jacoby Ellsbury and Jackie Bradley Jr.) but no clear standout. I went with Damon because of his cult hero status over Ellsbury (underrated looking back) and Bradley (streaky but longevity). I also had some trouble figuring out the rotation because there’s a real case to be made for Tim Wakefield.
— Chris Cotillo
Patriots running back?
My first instinct was Corey Dillon at running back. In these types of debates, I generally gravitate towards players who dominated for shorter durations over players who were above-average for a longer period. Dillon ran for a franchise-record 1,635 yards (109 per game) and powered the Pats to a Super Bowl in his first year in Foxborough. However, his production sharply declined over the next two seasons (61.1 and 50.8 rushing yards per game, respectively).
In this case, Kevin Faulk’s longevity and versatility make him the correct pick. I also considered James White, who was responsible for some enormously clutch moments, but ultimately Faulk’s post-2000 production (6,983 yards from scrimmage, 29 touchdowns) outweighs that of White (4,556 yards from scrimmage, 36 touchdowns).
— Kevin Duffy
Red Sox shortstop?
Hardest pick was easily shortstop. Leave me off any anti-Nomar list, and Garciaparra was terrific from 2000-2003, but Xander Bogaerts was a rock for a decade and twice a world champion.
— Ron Chimelis
Bruins’ bottom six forwards?
Plenty of tough calls with this grouping. I think some of Boston’s fourth-line stalwarts deserved some love on this list like Gregory Campbell, but I opted for Shawn Thornton when it comes to iconic players who best represented that segment of the depth chart for years and years. Also pained me to leave a few players with extended tenures in Boston like P. J. Axelsson, Brandon Carlo, and Charlie Coyle off this list.
— Conor Ryan
Patriots punter?
Honestly, and this will sound silly, but (the toughest call) was the punter. The Patriots cycled through so many over the dynasty years (Todd Sauerbrun, anybody?), and Josh Miller was the most consistent and reliable they had. Shout-out to him.
— Andrew Callahan
Bruins No. 1 goalie?
Really.
Tim Thomas was outstanding in the 2011 playoffs, but Tuukka Rask, who is one of the most underappreciated athletes in Boston history, had a baseline that was better than Thomas’ and he was better for longer. So what wins out: The peak or the consistently high standard?
— Matt Vautour
Brad Stevens vs. Drake Maye for the next 25 years?
Red Sox fifth starter?
The toughest decision for me was Tim Wakefield over Chris Sale for the final starting pitcher spot. Sale was absolutely dominant for the Red Sox for a two and a half year stretch. But Wakefield’s contributions from 2000-11 (22.8 bWAR, 121 wins, 2,041.2 innings) were more valuable during this quarter century. Wakefield has the third most wins in Red Sox history with 65% of those victories coming this century.
— Chris Smith
Patriots center?
The two reliable centers from each dynastic run boast strikingly similar resumes.
Dan Koppen made 120 starts for the Patriots, while David Andrews is at 121, and both won two Super Bowl rings. Andrews gets the leadership nod as an eight-time captain, but Koppen was voted a Second Team All-Pro and earned a Pro Bowl berth in 2007, which Andrews lacks. Ultimately, the voters gave Koppen the slight edge due to the higher peak.
— Chris Mason
Final Celtics spot: Antoine Walker vs. Isaiah Thomas?
The top nine on the Celtics team were pretty simple. The last spot was tough. These two are arguably the two best Celtics never to win a championship.
Walker, at times, felt like he could have been more than he was, especially when he became too in love with launching 3-pointers. Thomas was the absolute best version of himself in Boston. Walker was arguably never the best player on his team while Thomas definitely was.
— Matt Vautour