Oooh, Fearsome

I was really hoping to report that the Minnesota Vikings had hired Cincinnati Bengals defensive coordinator as their new head coach. Maybe later.

"Who is the most feared player in the NFL?" It's no surprise that ESPN is the one that conducted this poll. They tend to lean more towards the curious than the useful. Here's what ESPN found in their survey of more than 320 players to find the most feared player in the league:

Ndamukong Suh   DT  Detroit Lions            61 votes
Calvin Johnson   WR  Detroit Lions            58
J.J. Watt   DE  Houston Texans                  24
Patrick Willis  LB  San Francisco 49ers      23
Peyton Manning  QB  Denver Broncos        21
James Harrison  LB  Cincinnati Bengals     18
Adrian Peterson  RB  Minnesota Vikings     16

So, there's still 99 votes out there. I wonder who got 'em.

Since the Lions weren't too feared this year it's a little surprising that two of their players were the most feared. I think that Suh and Johnson are feared for entirely different reasons. Suh is feared because he's a maniac. No one is ever too sure that he's not going to just snap and do something "fearful." He's most fearsome after the whistle is blown and the play is over. Johnson is feared for all of the right reasons. There's really no defense against him. He's such a physical freak that he's matchup nightmare on every snap. I was a little surprised to see Harrison on the list. He makes it for much of the same reasons as Suh. He's also a maniac. I just didn't think that he posed the same threat that he did in his Steelers days.

Nice work, ESPN.