Last week’s issue of Sports Illustrated featured Peter King’s midseason All-Pro team. Among King’s selections are six players who are either union representatives or members of the NFLPA Executive Committee.
As King points out in his All-Pro selections, “offense has ruled through the first half of 2011, but there have been commanding performances on defense as well.”
Several NFLPA representatives are having strong seasons in 2011. Below is King’s take on each of those six players, as published in SI.
Aaron Rodgers
Player Representative | Quarterback | Green Bay
“His lowest-rated game to date (111.4): 297 yards, three TDs, one interception and a 73.7% completion rate in a 27-17 win at Chicago. Threatening nearly every single-season passing mark.”
(Rodgers is also awarded King’s midseason MVP)
“In another year, this award could be Drew Brees’s or Tom Brady’s or Matt Forte’s. But Rodgers has made a science of mistake-free quarterbacking in the first half.”
Steve Smith
Co-Alternate Player Representative | Wide Receiver | Carolina
“Very narrowly over Pittsburgh’s Mike Wallace, but Smith is on pace for 1,836 receiving yards for a team that had one of the worst offenses in football a year ago.”
Brian Waters
Executive Committee Member | Right Guard | New England
“He shifted from left guard in Kansas City to right with the Pats, had no offseason program in a complicated attack and has been a better player than the Pro Bowler he already was.”
Eric Winston
Co-Alternate Player Representative | Right Tackle | Houston
“Arian Foster means it when he credits his line. A one-cut-and-get-upfield back needs to have confidence in his blockers’ ability to produce gaps. The powerful Winston is a pile driver.”
Jared Allen
Co-Alternate Player Representative | Defensive End | Minnesota
“Rededicated himself after a sub-par 2010 and zoomed past last year’s sack total of 11 by mid-October. A relentless attacker who chases down plays when most linemen would be jogging.”
DeMarcus Ware
Co-Alternate Player Representative | Outside Linebacker | Dallas
“He’s got Bill Belichick comparing him with Lawrence Taylor and Dallas defensive boss Rob Ryan blowing the kind of smoke reserved for his dad’s great old Bears. Defines impact player.”
