Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com has found a good way to fill the only dead spot in the NFL’s annual calendar.

By coming up with a list.

We did it last year, following the lead of USA Today, which ranked the top 25 NFL players of the first 25 years of the national daily’s existence. 

Prisco ranks the top 50 players currently in the NFL.  His list is right here.

At the top, to no surprise, are Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

To much surprise, No. 6 is Texans defensive end Mario Williams.  The third-year player is six spots higher than Vikings defensive end Jared Allen.

Leading the way in the top twenty are the Vikings with four players.  The Pats, Colts, Chargers, and Cowboys each have two. 

The Patriots have five on the full list, the most of any team.

But the list surely will stir up a little controversy, and give some of the high-level players who were omitted from the main list and the nine who “just missed” more incentive for the coming year.

The Giants, the Super Bowl champs, had only one player on the entire list — defensive end Osi Umenyiora at No. 42.  Omitted from the top 5o plus nine included quarterback Eli Manning, receiver Plaxico Burress, and defensive lineman Justin Tuck.

Also excluded from the first 5o plus nine were Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, Rams left tackle Orlando Pace, Vikings defensive tackle Pat Williams, Cowboys running back Marion Barber, Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, Bengals receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Rams receiver Torry Holt, and Colts running back Joseph Addai.

Then there’s Jason Taylor.  The 2006 defensive player of the year, who by all appearances still has plenty of gas in the football tank (even though we think he’s got none in the acting tank), was left off the list, completely.  Oy.

And in what is supposed to be a quarterbacks’ league, only five were on the main list — Brady, Peyton Manning, Carson Palmer, Ben Roethlisberger, and Drew Brees.  Tony Romo made the “close but no cigar” list.

Still, we admire Prisco for undertaking the effort.  In a league with nearly 1,700 active players on opening-day roster, it ain’t easy to filter out the top fifty. 

It’s also not easy to sift through all the e-mails that he is sure to receive from fans of the folks who didn’t qualify.  Or to read through the comments that are sure to be posted at the bottom of this article.