While at work today I was reading the USA Today Sports Weekly paper.  Most of the paper is about baseball both professional and college, however in the back they have been writing articles every week about the top ten players in the NFL at different positions along with an analysis.  This week's issue discussed the top ten safeties in the NFL.  The list was as follows:

1) Troy Polamalu (77)

2) Ed Reed (74)

3) Nick Collins (58)

4) Eric Berry (43)

5) Adrian Wilson (42)

6) Antrelle Rolle (34)

T7) Michael Griffin (22)

T7) Brandon Meriweather (22)

9) Malcolm Jenkins (14)

10) Quinton Mikell (12)

Whitner did receive 4 votes under the column of other votes received along with a handful of other players, but I do think that it is an interesting point.  Whitner did lead all safeties in the league with 140 tackles along with 1 int. 1 forced fumble and 7 pass deflections, but he seems to feel that he deserves top dollar now after that performance.  Now of course do the guys at USA Today know everything and should their word be held as truth, of course not.  To some people Whitner may be a top 10 safety, this group just didn't see it though. 

As far as free agent safeties, Whitner was surprisingly rated the 7th best potential free agent safety in the league which I felt was a little rough and unfair.  Rated above him were: Dashon Goldson, Roman Harper, Micahel Huff, Eric Weddle, Quinton Mikell, and Danieal Manning (in that order).  Personally I'd say only Mikell and Weddle are the only players I'd possibly put ahead of Whitner who is younger than both at only 25 yrs. old. (Mikell, 30 and Weddle 29). 

I just felt like it was an interesting point to bring up because some believe Whitner is a top ten safety and worth the money and others don't.  Donte seems to think he deserves top 10 money maybe even more, but a list like this certainly isn't helping his case.  What do you guys think?  Is Donte a top ten safety?  Is he worth the $ or is he way overpricing himself?

*Interesting sidenote Jairus Byrd was tied for 2nd in the league in forced fumbles by a safety with 3 [only Roman Harper had more (6)]*