Peppers Ranks Among Top-10, Players Say

The NFL Network finished its listing of the best 100 players, as voted on the players, and Julius Peppers was the highest ranking Bear, making it in at No. 10. He was the fourth Bear on the list, joined by Devin Hester, Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs.

Since it's the off-season and we haven't seen Peppers do work since January, let's take a little walk down memory lane to recall all that is awesome about Pep. He has only been in Chicago for one season, but he made such a mark on the team that he is already ours.

Look at his statistics. Pep tied for the team lead with eight sacks, had 54 tackles and caused five turnovers. He disrupted nine passes, blocked a field goal, and was a pain in the tuchus for every opponent.

He has the knack of stepping up, even when the rest of the team is falling short. In the disastrous loss to the Giants, Peppers had a sack and four tackles. But he can also help the defense work together during beautiful team performances, like in the shutout of Miami. He had three sacks in that game.

But longtime readers of Grizzly Detail know that our favorite part about having Pep on the team can't be measured easily with stats. He makes his teammates better. He draws holding penalties and double-teams, allowing the rest of the defense to shine. Israel Idonije had a career year with Pep on the other side of the line.

The man is well-deserving of that top 10 listing. Peppers has proven himself as a valuable Bear, and is one of the reasons why we want football back.