Once an arbitrary number of players from a historic team get enshrined, the committee moves on in search of underappreciated players from other franchises. Karl Mecklenburg. If not for Schlereth's many health problems that included 29 surgeries, 15 on his left knee alone, he would have been a perennial Pro Bowl selection. The Bills were among the first teams to frequently operate without a huddle. His 2,690 all-purpose yards with the Titans in the 2000 season are second in league history. Teams: Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, Tennessee Oilers, Pro Bowl appearances: Three (1984, 1988, 1989). Defensive Player of the Year awards? White: 12 underrated players; White: 12 overrated players; Towers: Generic vs. Name Brand; Prospect hunting . The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only. As some players continue to grow their stardom and gain league-wide recognition, others are less talked about, often flying under the radar for several seasons or even entire careers without proper acknowledgment. Mason's 95-catch, 1,200-yard seasons translate to 115-catch monsters in more pass-oriented schemes. Oakland Raiders. These men did so much but received so little credit in return. Its a frigging joke that Taylor isnt in the Hall of Fame discussion. Anderson was not Payton, and the later-era Mike Ditka Bears could never approach the heights reached by the 1985 Bears. Bottom line: Warrick Dunn overcame the murder of his mother, bouts with depression and 5-foot-9 size to have a successful 12-year NFL career. The Packers were a team with more history than identity when Butler arrived. If Isiah Robertson is famous at all, it's for being "posterized" by Earl Campbell in one of the most famous NFL Films highlights of all time. But he didn't play for the legendary 49ers teams. The NFL is a star-driven league. Teams: Chicago Bears, Washington Redskins, Houston Oilers, Arizona Cardinals, New York Jets, Pro Bowl appearances: Three (1986, 1987, 1992), Super Bowl championships: Two (1985, 1991). Marshall reached just two Pro Bowls. And few were better at making opposing quarterbacks pay for mistakes. 1. Quick: Name the 49ers' all-time sack leader. Smith wasnt a no-show on third-and-long, either. The former top ten draft pick looks to be on the verge of breaking out. While coverage is Bates' strength, he can still lay the big hit and be a factor in run support. Sutton hauled in 72 catches for 1,112 yards during his second season in the league before a knee injury cut short his 2020campaign after 1 game. An undrafted quarterback out of the late Milton College (Wisconsin), Krieg got them to the postseason four times and the AFC championship game once. Theyre the flat-liners whose drop-dead consistency gets lost with average-to-bad teams, in smaller markets, with brain-challenged organizations that have little, if any, history of success. David has amassed 12 interceptions, 16 fumble recoveries, 24 forced fumbles, and 53 pass deflections during his career. No matter. C'mon, who doesn't love Darren Sproles and Mike Tolbert? WebWhile positional drills may be more indicative of a player's success in the NFL, other events like the 40-yard dash, three-cone drill and bench press are less obvious. He played left tackle in 1972 and moved to right tackle in 1974. In both New England and Arizona, Jones has wreaked havoc on quarterbacks, demonstrating versatility as a 3-4 OLB and 4-3 DE. Raphael Guerreiro of Borussia Dortmund Looks Not Fred Dean. 1 overall pick, NFL coverage map 2021: TV schedule Week 16, Seattle Seahawks: 3 players who wont be back in 2022. To understand why he is not in the Hall of Fame, you must familiarize yourself with both the era he played in and the vagaries of Hall voting. Jerry Hughes has been a consistent pass rusher and important piece to the Buffalo Bills defense. ", Teams: St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Oilers, Buffalo Bills, Washington Redskins, Pro Bowl appearances (AFL All-Star Game): Two (1965, 1967). Steve Wisniewski played guard on a Raiders team that moved in the middle of his career and was just good enough to remind you it was not in the same class as the great Raiders teams that preceded it. Robertson is so poorly remembered that it was hard to find a decent photo of him in our archives. If you guessed both or neither one, youre wrong. It didnt help that he had ordinary quarterbacks named Tony Eason and Steve Grogan to throw him the ball. Jones topped the 100 career sack total in week one of 2021, a five-sack day that tied a Cardinals franchise record and set a personal career-best. Robertson's Rams made a habit of reaching the playoffs every year and losing to the Vikings or Cowboys. Seven times, he surpassed 1,000 yards on pass receptions, most of them on slants and corner routes. The Hall of McDole was a starting defensive end for two of history's legendary defenses: the AFL champion Buffalo Bills of 1964 and '65 and Washington's "Over-the-Hill Gang" of the early 1970s. But none accomplished more than Ryan while receiving less acclaim. Start with Adam Timmerman, who won Super Bowl rings with the Packers and Rams three years apart. Ryan needed surgery and was in constant pain for the rest of his career. Mills followed Mora to New Orleans and led the Dome Patrol linebacking corps, which brought the Saints franchise its first playoff appearances. His 23 fourth-quarter comebacks (20th overall) are more than Dan Fouts, Jim Kelly, Sonny Jurgensen and Bart Starr, to name a few Hall of Famers at the position. WebDuring the next few weeks, we here at NFL.com will unveil our Most Underrated and Overrated Players of All Time for all 32 teams and allow users to determine their Taylor rushed for 1,000-plus yards in seven seasons. There may be such a thing as too much blitzing, after all. With 4.35 speed, McLaurin can take the top off any defense but has also rounded out the rest of his game since his time at Ohio State. Bottom line: For 16 seasons, Henry Ellard wreaked havoc as a pass receiver and punt returner. Who knows what the NFL might have looked like then? No matter what the two-time All-Pro accomplished, he could never be Jerry Rice, who cast a long, tall shadow in the same conference. Terry McLaurin has played through one of the more unstable quarterback situations in football with Washington since entering the league but continues to emerge as one of the top wideouts in football. "Even now I still get pissed off. But this list is all about giving overlooked players their due respect. Bottom line: The Greatest Show On Turf boasted so much star power you couldnt tell the other Rams without a program. For years, the team couldn't even harken back to its glory days properly, as Smith's Pride of the Jaguars induction was delayed until he was sober and no longer under house arrest. By being overshadowed by Brown, achieving his greatest success just before the dawn of the Super Bowl era and getting stuck behind the Tom Brady and Peyton Manning of your grandfather's generation, Ryan earned the title of the NFL's All-Time Most Underrated Player. Edouard Mendy - Chelsea. Hes the only quarterback with AFL and NFL titles on his resume and he darn near pulled it off in the Canadian Football League as well. Watch more top videos, highlights, and B/R original content, acquired the 34-year-old Rams quarterback by, Ronald C. Modra/Sports Imagery/Getty Images, Pro Football Reference Similar Players tool, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. As for being so underrated he's overrated, wellthat's extremely underrated, which justifies Anderson's ranking here. Robertson was one of the NFL's fastest linebackers in the 1970s. Bottom line: Quick, name the winningest Seahawks quarterback before the Russell Wilson era. Wisniewski reached eight Pro Bowls and was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame All-Decade team for the 1990s, so he's not exactly obscure. The career active leader in games started by a defensive lineman is Julius Peppers with 227. But his Hall of Fame candidacy has been stuck in semifinalist limbo. The statue portrays jubilant Packers fans in tundra-weather gear appearing to cradle a player who just pounced into the stands. The USFL may not have been the NFL in terms of quality, but being the Luke Kuechly of a league that featured Herschel Walker, Jim Kelly and Steve Young should count for something. Lomas Brown played left tackle for four Lions playoff teams. Honourable Mentions Hajime Hosogai, Hertha Berlin DM, Age: 27 Kenny Anderson may be the most "so underrated that he's overrated" player in NFL historya darling of the stat-head community and common first-guy-mentioned when Hall of Fame snubs come up. A mauler of a right guard, Timmerman also was agile enough to escort Marshall Faulk on screens and sweeps. Fletcher followed Gregg Williams from coaching stop to coaching stop, serving as the sometimes controversial, always effective defensive mastermind's field marshal. If John Hadl is remembered for anything these days, it's for one of the most disastrous trades in NFL history. Hull never lived to see himself make a Hall of Fame semifinalist list, as he died of liver failure at age 50 in 2011. That feeling never really went away.". The admission probably slams the door of the Hall of Fame on Brown forever. That may be unfair to players like Robinson, Jerry Kramer and L.C. There are over 120 teams that compete in the FBS, which means that storylines and hidden superstars abound. Here is every NFL teams most underrated player of all time. That's its own kind of recognition. There's a statue outside of Lambeau Field commemorating the Lambeau Leap, perhaps the most recognizable and beloved (except to Packers opponents) end-zone celebration in the NFL. Karl Mecklenburg. Ryan was Jim Brown's quarterback and then Leroy Kelly's quarterback. Despite his incredibly high waist seriously, check out his build Kelvin Beachum has been one of the most underrated tackles in the NFL. While Kreig didnt possess fleet feet or a bazooka arm, he could read defenses and throw an accurate ball. Feyenoord v VVV Venlo - Eredivisie. And then there is Kent Hull, the first center to achieve greatness in a no-huddle offense. As Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase earn praise for helping bring competitive football back to Cincinnati, safety Jessie Bates is a huge reason for the Bengals turnaround on defense. Far from it. Teammates Alan Page and Carl Ellar were held in higher regard. Both Courtland Sutton and teammate Tim Patrick could easily make this list together as neither player is discussed nearly enough. They didnt allow a sack in 84 pass attempts. He recorded four consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons from 1988 through 1991, a rare feat at the time. MVP-caliber seasons (1,528 yards, 90 receptions, 16 total touchdowns in 2006) early in his career gave way to annual 1,100-1,200 yard, low-touchdown grinds as the Greatest Show Rams retired one by one and the team fell to 2-14 and 1-15. "When I was there, the thing we were missing was that explosive type of offense, and the new coach brought that in.". Deion Jones is one interception away from tying the all-time record for pick 6's by a linebacker, and he's done it in a fraction of the games. He took over as the Bears' featured offensive weapon after the Super Bowl Shuffle years. Rote was the first quarterback who regularly beat defenses with his legs as well as his arm. He is now stuck in a rebuilding cycle that may take a few years. And almost nobody remembers that, when Edwards caught the ball, he knew what to do it. Ground rules: A max of three Pro Bowl invitations. No one plays guard expecting fame and accolades, least of all Wisniewski, who is worthy of all the gritty cliches you can sling at him. Let's face it: An entire All-Underrated Team can be assembled using only Broncos defenders. He played 256 career regular-season games, never missing a start due to injury. Teams: Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, San Diego Chargers, Experience: 13 years (1950-59, 1963-64, 1966), AFL All-Star Game appearances: One (1963). And none of them produce the numbers he generated in less hospitable systems. Not one of the Jim Harbaugh-era guys. According to Next Gen Stats, Johnson averaged 3.6 yards of separation for each target during his rookie season, the most of any receiver in football. "Stanley Steamer" could run every route and was hell on wheels with the ball in his hands. ), Teams: Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers, Super Bowl championships: Two (1974, 1975). A beast in coverage, Jones continues to round out his game as one of the top overall linebackers in football. That makes sense: Both started their careers late, played with workhorse running backs, won a championship and had their careers curtailed by vicious hits. Juszczyk knows his role and is a winning player that will always fight to win those tough yards. Oh, and sub-packages were pretty rare in the 1960s and 1970s, so Marshall didn't leave the field much. "I wasnt the fastest guy, but I didnt mind having the defender at my hip," Ellard said per Yahoo Sports. Ellard moved on to Washington in 1994 and enjoyed a late-career renaissance, averaging 61 catches and 18.8 yards per reception over a three-year span in his mid-30s. Wide receiver Chase Claypool stole headlines as a rookie in 2020, while teammate JuJu Smith-Schuster always seems to attract headlines one way or another. He is also proficient with his right foot and is a versatile player who can play multiple positions in the attacking third of the pitch. The Rams acquired him from the Chargers in 1973 in exchange for defensive end Coy Bacon. In Jahri Evans' four All-Pro seasons (2009-12), the Saints ranked first, sixth, first and second in the NFL in total yards. Lets hear some "un-der-ra-ted!" Because he is one of the NFL's best defensive players, for one thing. He once sacked Dan Marino twice on the first two plays of a gamea remarkable achievement, as Marino was one of the least sacked quarterbacks in NFL history. Eric Allen's job in Buddy Ryan's 46 defense was simple. Mills was a USFL All-Star in all three seasons of the league's existence, and he led the Philadelphia and Baltimore Stars' Doghouse Defense (coached by Jim Mora) to a pair of league titles. Shanahan uses Juszczyk as a traditional lead blocking back, but he provides plenty of versatility out of the backfield and with the ball in his hands. But no highlight clip of that play can be found on the internet. WebDeion Sanders: Deion Sanders is one of the most underrated players of all time. Know who created those wide-open spaces? This commitment to team defense is perhaps one of the main reasons Buckner is not more recognized as one of the top interior defensive linemen in football. The AFL was an eight- to 10-team league, so All-Pro selections were easier to come by. You mean future Hall of Fame tackle Orlando Pace didnt block four guys all by himself? Also, the field was often a block of ice. He started for an offensive line that helped Barry Sanders win two of his four rushing titles. Bowman doesn't get the recognition he's due, and he may have to get used to it. McDole, nicknamed "The Dancing Bear" because of his boogie on the dance floor rather than his on-field footwork, was known as more of a run defender than a pass-rusher. A lifelong Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Davids 10-year career has been about consistency and productivity. Franklin-Myers has the ability to play anywhere on the defensive line and is off to a strong start in the Jets' new 4-3 defense under head coach Robert Saleh. His 4.53 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine was far from elite level speed either, but none of that has not stopped Johnson from playing fast and producing at a high level for the Steelers. He began his career at the tail end of Jim Harbaugh's great defensive teams, but he has since battled both injuries and the incompetence of the Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly experiments. Dont let the numbers fool you Morgan wasnt a one-trick racehorse. Teams: Los Angeles Rams, Washington Redskins. Butler was the NFL's most dangerous all-purpose safety for much of the 1990s. Hall of Fame receiver Paul Warfield was on the receiving end of many of Ryan's touchdowns. It's not that Ellard, an Olympic-caliber triple-jumper with 4.4 speed, didn't know what he was doing. Not only was Fleming good enough to stick with great teams, but he also was the luckiest son of a gun on the face of the earth. So whaddya say, fans? Bottom line: Wilber Marshall was the most athletic and versatile linebacker with the legendary 1985 Bears defense he often replaced the celebrated Mike Singletary in pass situations. His stardom was spread among three teams, robbing him of local hero status (or Hall of Fame momentum) in any one city. McLaurins numbers through two-plus seasons are very similar to Stefon Diggs, who went through a similar quarterback situation early during his career in Minnesota. Meet every NFL team's all-time most underrated player. Waller was a sixth-round draft pick at wide receiver by the Ravens in 2015 and struggled to find targets early in his career in spite of his 66 frame. After the Bills failed to score, he knocked quarterback Jim Kelly out of the game in the next series. Developing a rapport with new QB Trevor Lawrence should only help Shenault quickly reach his true potential.
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