See your team in your mind's eye -- 24 starters, including specialists.

If you could put an absolute halo of safety -- perhaps a girdle of indestructibility? -- around just one, who would it be?

We're rating each Pac-12 team's most indispensable player. The only rule: Quarterbacks are not eligible for this post.

Up next: Stanford

Most indispensable player: DL Solomon Thomas

Solomon Thomas can shift from end to tackle seamlessly and provide a dominant presence at both positions. Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports

You were sure that this post would be about Christian McCaffrey, weren't you? Well, it's not. First of all, that would be boring: At this point, one would be hard-pressed to find a Pac-12 fan who doesn't appreciate the Swiss Army knife's value to Stanford's offense and special teams units. Second, the Cardinal have no shortage of do-it-all offensive speedsters. A guy named Bryce Love shined this past spring, making it apparent that he could start on many other teams. Losing McCaffrey obviously would be a massive blow to Stanford, but Love gives them a very viable second option, so it wouldn't be the complete end of the world on The Farm.

The same cannot be said about a Cardinal team in a world that does not include defensive lineman Solomon Thomas. Following the departures of Aziz Shittu and Brennan Scarlett, Stanford already is facing a bevy of questions along the front. Harrison Phillips will be returning from an ACL tear that sidelined him for virtually the entire 2015 season, making Thomas the only proven contributor who played last year. The other candidates for playing time -- Jordan Watkins, Luke Kaumatule, Eric Cotton, Dylan Jackson -- must all make strides for the Cardinal to be sturdy up front.

Thomas is a physical freak with positional versatility -- he can shift from end to tackle seamlessly and provide a dominant presence at both positions, making him the glue of Stanford's defensive line. If the front doesn't hold up, the rest of the defense suffers, so Thomas' top-notch play comes at a position where his absence would trigger a painful domino effect.

The Cardinal hope that Thomas picks up where he left off last season, and they hope that Phillips returns with the game-changing form he flashed before injury last season. That would set the table for a player like Kaumatule, who redshirted his senior season in 2015, to emerge as a viable third starter up front. It would also give Watkins, Cotton and Jackson breathing room as they strive to fortify the rotation with quality depth.

But there's one piece of the puzzle that Stanford absolutely, positively cannot live without, and that's Thomas.