Brian Urlacher, Hall of Famer?

No real qualms..I would be in the minority putting Rod Woodson over Sanders, but that is a personal preference.

 

I'm certainly not going to quibble with Deion vs. Rod Woodson. Both amazing players.

I'd forgotten about Seau. I think he'd have to be in the top 10 over Charles Woodson. I'd probably have him ahead of Freeney as well.

Willis is an amazing player. But, too early to include him in any HOF/best of the era discussions...

 

My pseudo-qualification is that I've watched almost every Bears game (on TV or in person when they play in Seattle) for the last 8 seasons...

I've always considered Briggs the superior LB in that corps.

 

Woodson was a far better all-around football player.

 

Ray Lewis has gotten enormous publicity from ESPN machinery that other guys on that list, even Deion, never did.

 

And yet only Sanders was able to shut down an entire half of the field in the 2WR era, thereby making the rest of the defense substantially better.

 

Yeah, poor Deion. He never was hyped at all.

 

Not by a four-pronged media empire -- one all too willing to suck him off whether he's involved in a murder trial or not -- in the first half-dozen years of his career.

 

I watched Deion take Jerry Rice out of a game. I think Young had just taken over the starting job and it was something ridiculous like three catches for 33 yards. That wasn't the norm when they faced off, but I don't think I ever saw a DB shut Rice down like that.

 

I'll grant you that. But I can't think of another defensive players who received and deserved as much hype as Deion did during his career.

 

Even as a Colts looser fanboi, I wouldn't put Dwight Freeney up there. He doesn't stop the run, and he runs himself out of more plays than I can count. His career is built on Manning getting an early lead so he can tee off on the quarterback. Don't get me wrong, he's a very good player, but he has too many flaws to be among the greats. Plus, I don't see a whole lot of difference between him and, say, Robert Mathis.

 

1. LT
2. White
3. Lott
4. Lewis
5. Sanders
6. Rod Woodson
7. Bruce Smith
8. Seau
9. Ed Reed
10. Charles Woodson