NFL Pyramid Rankings: NFC Edition

Last week I published an article on the best AFC players. If you've read it, you can skip the next few paragraphs and see how I rank the NFC'ers. If you didn't read it, I would urge you took look at it but if you can't bring yourself to click that big orange blob above here's a quick rundown on how I did this.

Every year I see a bunch of rankings on NFL players in various formats (Madden, National sportswriters,etc) and am fascinated by them. I decided I wanted to come up with my own unique rankings, and rather than down a traditional countdown of the best players, I have decided to create a pyramid style format. My AFC article is a little more detailed on how I went about things, so I suggest you read that first, but here's a crude breakdown: 

Top Tier: Guys who would go to the HOF if they retired right now

Second Tier: Guys who can potentially turn into HOF'ers with time

Third Tier: The rest of the stars left who have some work to do to become elite players

Fourth Tier: Starters who have a major flaw

Fifth Tier: Guys who are young and have room to grow

Last Tier (Not on the pyramid): Just too hard to rank/ I don't know what to do with them

With that, here it goes:

Top Tier 

Brian Urlacher, Terrell Owens, Zach Thomas, Brett Favre, Brian Dawkins, Walter Jones, Orlando Pace, Derrick Brooks, Jason Taylor

Second Tier

Larry Fitzgerald, Adrian Wilson, Julius Peppers, Steve Smith, Tommie Harris, DaMarcusWare, Ernie Sims, Aaron Kampman, Jared Allen, Steve Hutchinson, Adrian Peterson, Brian Westbrook, Patrick Willis, Torry Holt, Steven Jackson

Third Tier

Anquan Boldin, Karlos Dansby, Darnell Dockett, Edgerrin James, John Abraham, Keith Brooking, Jordan Gross, Lance Briggs, Olin Kreutz, Adewale Ogunleye, Nathan Vasher, Charles Tillman, Flozell Adams, Marion Barber, Leonard Davis, Terence Newman, Tony Romo, Jason Witten, Roy Williams, Charles Woodson, Matt Birk, Bryant McKinnie, Darren Sharper, Pat Williams, Kevin Williams, Drew Brees, Jammal Brown, Marques Colston, Jeremy Shockey, Will Smith, Jonathan Vilma, Plaxico Burress, Eli Manning, Chris Snee, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Donovan McNabb, Asante Samuel, Lito Sheppard, Frank Gore, Matt Hasselbeck, Patrick Kerney, Julian Peterson, Lofa Tatupu, Marcus Trufant, March Bulger, Ronde Barber, Clinton Portis, Chris Samuels

Fourth Tier

Antrel Rolle, Kurt Warner, Joe Horn, Lawyer Milloy, Michael Turner, Roddy White, Jake Delhomme, Chris Gamble, Ken Lucas, Muhsin Muhammad, Mark Anderson, Alex Brown, John Tait, Patrick Crayton, Greg Ellis, Ken Hamlin, Andre Gurode, LeighBodden, Jon Kitna, Cory Redding, Nick Barnett, Donald Driver, Kabeer GbajaBiamila, Ryan Grant, Al Harris, AJ Hawk, Greg Jennings, Bernard Berrian, Chester Taylor, Antoine Winfield, Charles Grant, Deuce McAllister, Brandon Jacobs, Amani Toomer, Sheldon Brown, Trent Cole, Kevin Curtis, Todd Herremans, Mike Patterson, Jon Runyan, L.J. Smith, Isaac Bruce, Nate Clements, DeShaun Foster, Justin Smith, Rocky Bernard, Deion Branch, Nate Burleson, Drew Bennett, La'Roi Glover, Leonard Little, WillWitherspoon, Joey Galloway, Jeff Garcia, Earnest Graham, Cato June, Barrett Ruud, Andre Carter, Chris Cooley, London Fletcher, Jon Jansen, Santana Moss, Antwaan Randle El, Marcus Washington

Fifth Tier

Matt Leinart, Rex Grossman, Aaron Rodgers, Tarvaris Jackson, Alex Smith, Jason Campbell 

Last Tier

Jerious Norwood, Jon Beason, DeAngelo Williams, Greg Olsen, Adam Jones, Calvin Johnson, Sidney Rice, Reggie Bush, Vernon Davis, Adam Carriker, Gaines Adams, Davin Joseph, Cadillac Williams, LaRon Landry

Well, there you have it. If you have any questions, comments, guys I missed, let me know on the comments section or read my AFC article, that should help you understand this more.