Who's playing in the Super Bowl? Yes, it's a valid question.
Turns out the Patriots and Falcons are the ones playing in the Super Bowl. Who knew! If you want to drill down a little further, there are also 106 individuals playing for these teams, with 44 of those guys serving as starters in the Super Bowl.
Below we'll get into the starters and rosters for each of the two teams, but bear in mind with these two defenses -- and, really the offenses -- things get tricky because of the modern personnel moves that coaches Dan Quinn and Bill Belichick deploy.
Technically Levine Toilolo started for the Falcons against the Packers, when Atlanta came out in a singleback set and ran Devonta Freeman off the right side with a seven blockers. We're going to cheat a bit and give the Falcons three different wideouts as starters because it makes more sense with their offensive approach.
All the details on how to watch the Super Bowl can be found here and below.
Also of interest: colleague Pete Prisco already did a fantastic job ranking every starter in the Super Bowl, which you can check out right here. You can also see how the starters for each team ranked as high school recruits (courtesy of Jon Solomon) and see where the starters for each team comes from in terms of where they played in college (courtesy of Tom Fornelli).
All starters in bold and based on championship weekend, depth charts via team websites and the always indispensable Ourlads site. Seriously don't get to hung up on the starters.
How to watch the Super Bowl
- Who: New England Patriots vs. Atlanta Falcons
- When: Sunday, Feb. 5, 6:30 p.m. ET
- Where: NRG Stadium, Houston
- Announcers: Joe Buck, Troy Aikman, Erin Andrews
- Halftime show: Lady Gaga
- TV: Fox
- Streaming: Fox Sports GO. Viewers can use iOS, Android, Windows, and Amazon tablets or through connected devices, including Apple TV, Roku, Android TV, Chromecast, Amazon Fire and Xbox One. NFL Game Pass (available to watch online after midnight)
Atlanta Falcons
Offense
- QB: Matt Ryan, Matt Schaub
- RB: Devonta Freeman, Tevin Coleman, Terron Ward
- FB: Patrick DiMarco
- WR: Julio Jones, Justin Hardy, Nick Williams, Eric Weems
- WR: Mohamed Sanu, Aldrick Robinson
- WR: Taylor Gabriel
- TE: Austin Hooper, Levine Toilolo, Joshua Perkins, D.J. Tialavea
- LT: Jake Matthews, Tom Compton
- LG: Andy Levitre, Ben Garland
- C: Alex Mack, Ben Garland
- RG: Chris Chester, Wes Schweitzer
- RT: Ryan Schraeder, Tom Compton
Defense
- DE: Dwight Freeney, Brooks Reed
- DT: Grady Jarrett, Courtney Upshaw
- DL: Ra'Shede Hageman, Tyson Jackson
- DL: Jonathan Babineaux, Joe Vellano
- LB: Vic Beasley, Philip Wheeler
- LB: Deion Jones, Paul Worrilow, LaRoy Reynolds
- LB: De'Vondre Campbell, Josh Keyes
- CB: Robert Alford, CJ Goodwin
- CB: Jalen Collins, Sharrod Neasman
- CB: Brian Poole
- S: Keanu Neal, Dashon Goldson
- S: Ricardo Allen, Deji Olatoye
Special Teams
- P: Matt Bosher
- PK: Matt Bryant
- LS: Josh Harris
- PR/KR: Eric Weems
New England Patriots
Offense
- QB: Tom Brady, Jimmy Garoppolo, Jacoby Brissett
- RB: LeGarrette Blount, Brandon Bolden, DJ Foster
- FB: James Develin
- RB: James White, Dion Lewis
- WR: Julian Edelman, Michael Floyd
- WR: Chris Hogan, Danny Amendola, Matthew Slater
- WR: Malcolm Mitchell
- TE: Martellus Bennett, Matt Lengel
- LT: Nate Solder, LaAdrian Waddle
- LG: Joe Thuney
- C: David Andrews, Ted Karras
- RG: Shaq Mason
- RT: Marcus Cannon, Cameron Fleming
Defense
- DE: Chris Long, Geneo Grissom
- DT: Alan Branch, Vince Valentine
- DT: Malcom Brown
- DE: Trey Flowers, Jabaal Sheard
- LB: Elandon Roberts, Shea McClellin, Barkevious Mingo
- LB: Dont'a Hightower, Kyle Van Noy
- LB: Rob Ninkovich
- CB: Malcolm Butler, Justin Coleman, Jonathan Jones
- CB: Logan Ryan,
- CB: Eric Rowe, Cyrus Jones
- S: Devin McCourty, Duron Harmon, Jordan Richards
- S: Patrick Chung, Nate Ebner, Brandon King
Special Teams
- P: Ryan Allen
- PK: Stephen Gostkowski
- LS: Joe Cardona
- PR: Danny Amendola
- KR: Cyrus Jones
