What is the second-most important position in the NFL?

There is no position in sports like the quarterback position. If I were to compare a great quarterback to a great basketball player, for example, it would be like saying that he’s equal to being the point guard, the shooting guard, and the center, all-wrapped in one.

Why was Michael Jordan so good? Far be it from me to be the best person to answer that question, but I think it’s fair to say that besides just being Jordan, he also elevated his teammates to levels well beyond what they ever would have been without Jordan. Great quarterbacks aren’t just making dazzling plays like Michael Vick could do in his prime, they’re also making the other 10 players around them much better than they ever would be without that quarterback.

Bad quarterbacks? Well, they do the opposite of that.

I’m not saying that there are five or six “Jordans” in the NFL at any given time, but in a way that might be true because that’s just how significant it is when you have a top-five quarterback. There is no other position in football that carries that much responsibility.

But what could be the second-most important position?

That’s an old debate and the answer changes depending on the year. The two positions most often cited as an answer during my lifetime have been left tackle, the player responsible for protecting the ‘blind side’ for the most important position, and edge rusher, because he’s usually got the best chance to throw off an opposing team’s quarterback.

See? The QB position is so important that even the second-most important position is only called that because of how he impacts the QB position, positively or negatively.

I want to do some position rankings within the NFC West division but first I want to know what the Turf Show Times community sees as the second, third, and so-on-most important positions are after that. Let’s start with what you believe the second-most important position is in the NFL as of 2021.

Answering the poll is one step, but please feel welcome to explain your answer in the comments.

Side Note: How can Aaron Donald be the best non-QB in the NFL when he technically plays one of the ‘least important’ positions in football? I think the fact that Donald isn’t an ‘edge’ rusher’ only emphasizes how fucking crazy unique and special he is. Even though he’s not an ‘edge’ he still does what an ‘edge’ is meant to do — disrupt the quarterback — and he does that better than anyone.