The SG 50 so far:

1. Tom Brady, QB Patriots
2. Peyton Manning, QB Colts
3. Ben Roethlisberger, QB Steelers
4. Tony Romo, QB Cowboys
5. Carson Palmer, QB Bengals
6. Joe Thomas, OT Browns
7. Osi Umenyiora, DE Giants
8. LaDainian Tomlinson, RB Chargers

And with the #9 pick, Justin Zeth selects Kevin Williams, DT, Minnesota Vikings.

How'd you like this crammed right up in there, boy?!More than at any other place on the field, play after play, football games are decided by the battle in the trenches. Offensive line versus defensive line. Thanks largely to the rise of fantasy football, ignorance as to which players are most responsible for a team winning or losing games is epidemic. Running back is, by far, the most systematically overrated position on the field, not just by fans, but by the people who control and operate NFL teams, who continue to insist on devoting an enormous slice of their salary cap to a mediocre running back, like Larry Johnson or Michael Turner. Quarterbacks are routinely overrated (Derek Anderson, Marc Bulger) or underrated (Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees) as a direct function of the effectiveness or lack thereof of the offensive line in front of them.

The reverse is just as true. The defensive line is easily the most important of a defense’s three base units. Put another way, if you could have only one of a dominating defensive line, a dominating linebacking corps, or a dominating secondary, you would take the dominating d-line in the blink of an eye and with total confidence. Pro Bowl linebackers and safeties are made every year by dominant defensive lines that flush out running backs and hurry quarterbacks into bad decisions. Control the line and you control the game.

This has never been more on display than it was in Super Bowl 42 this past January. Eli Manning winning the MVP award was preposterous. Manning threw a game-killing interception that Asante Samuel dropped, and then heaved up what was basically a last-gasp hail mary that stuck to David Tyree’s helmet like the world’s strongest refrigerator magnet.

That’s not why the Giants won the game. Everyone who watched the game knows why the Giants won it: their defensive line annihilated the Patriots’ offensive line. Every time Tom Brady took a snap he was under pressure from the Giants’ devastating trio of Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and Michael Strahan. Umenyiora was the MVP, and Tuck or Strahan would have made a fine choice. But, well, we’ve been waiting four years to crown Eli Manning King of the World, and we weren’t about to miss our big chance, facts be damned.

Our picks are dominated by the most important positions on the field: Quarterback, offensive line and defensive line. For my money, Kevin Williams is the best defensive lineman in the NFL right now, him or Umenyiora, who Bryan reasonably tabbed at #7. Thanks to Kevin Williams and his tag-team partner Fat Pat Williams, it is impossible to run the football against the Minnesota Vikings. I mean that: Impossible. Don’t bother. If I were playing the Vikings, and I had the ball long enough to run, say, 65 offensive plays, I would pass the ball about 60 times. There’s just no point in trying to run; you’re not going to gain anything. You certainly can’t run inside, and you can’t really run outside, either, because the Williamses just blow up your o-line anyway (it requires four linemen to handle them both, leaving 9 defenders against… well, the math ain’t pretty), plus Kevin’s fast enough to blow up a blocker or two and then chase down the doomed running back.

And that’s the brilliance of Kevin Williams. He’s big and tremendously strong, and freakishly quick for a guy his size. Unlike Fat Pat, he’s a ferocious pass rusher, and he’s strong enough against the run that running against the Vikings would be hard even if Fat Pat weren’t there.

Williams will be 27 this season. Over the next five years, I don’t think there’s another defensive lineman in the NFL that has more value to offer. Kevin Williams by himself can make a bad defense respectable, a mediocre defense good, and a good defense freakin’ awesome. He’s the most valuable defensive player in the NFL right now.