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Elise Amendola/Associated Press

Unbelievably, and distressingly, the 2014 NFL season is more than halfway over.

Every team has played at least half of its games; every player has had at least half a year to make his mark. We're halfway to the playoffs, halfway to postseason awards and halfway to the thrilling end of division title and wild-card races.

The trade deadline has passed, and Pro Bowl voting is already open.

We know the perennial stars of the league, and we know all the big names. But before we cast our ballots, let's cast out our preconceptions. Regardless of team, position or reputation, who are the 50 best players at the 2014 season's halfway mark?

Not who has the biggest career numbers; that's easily looked up at Pro-Football-Reference.com.

Not who possesses the the most impressive tools—the B/R 1000 project has you covered there.

With a combination of official stats, advanced metrics, subjective grades and the good, old-fashioned eyeball test, here are the top 50 players through the first eight weeks of the NFL.

Disclaimers, Provisos, Exceptions, etc.:

For official stats and standings, Pro-Football-Reference.com was the primary source.

For advanced statistics and subjective grades, Pro Football Focus numbers were used. Pro Football Focus data is subscriber-only; paid links are noted as such.

For composite metrics, Football Outsiders' DYAR was used, as well as AdvancedFootballAnalytics.com's WPA and EPA.

Not all of these stats and rankings are available for every position category, and some of them define positions differently. As noted in some circumstances, per-position rankings had to be massaged to reflect how sites categorize positional 'tweeners.

Note: These rankings, and nearly all associated stats and records, were compiled before the Week 9 games. All are current through at least Week 8.