20 most underrated football players of all time 20 most underrated football players of all time

Hadl signed with the Chargers instead, and Sid Gilman built him into the trigger man for an offense from which all modern offenses descended. Dont let the numbers fool you Morgan wasnt a one-trick racehorse. Karl Mecklenburg. Bottom line: The 1970s Steelers won four Super Bowls two with a power run game, two with a potent pass attack and who better than Jon Kolb to do the heavy lifting? There have been many better quarterbacks than Ryan in NFL history. Bottom line: The Greatest Show On Turf boasted so much star power you couldnt tell the other Rams without a program. Smith wasnt a no-show on third-and-long, either. In Super Bowl IX, Edwards killed a drive and darn near Vikings intended receiver John Gilliam on a hellacious hit near the goal line. He started for the Rams in their Super Bowl seasons at the beginning of his career and then earned Pro Bowl berths for Washington from 2009 through 2012 when he was in his mid-30s. McDole's Bills defenses held opponents to fewer than 3.1 yards per carry across three consecutive seasons. 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. Turner was the ultimate plug-and-play guy, one of five 49ers to be part of all eight of their playoff teams in the decade. But Anderson was an extraordinary talent. More than anything, though, Rote was a leader and winner. The Jaguars, meanwhile, slowly descended to their current status as the NFL's punching bag. It's better to be remembered for one of the most painful moments in your career than to not be remembered at all. Robinson was one of those players. Numbers better than majority of RBs in history. Kenn is one of the NFL's all-time great players and leaders, and his impact ranges far beyond his playing career. Bowman doesn't get the recognition he's due, and he may have to get used to it. If Mel Blount, Mike Haynes and teammate Lemar Parrish hadnt been in the same conference, Riley would have made more a few more Pro Bowl trips. "No one was going to catch no ball.". 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. What Mason did have was a keen attention to detail and fanatical drive to succeed. If Anderson had failed, the 49ers may never have lured Walsh away from the Bengals staff. It was a motivating factor for a number of years in my career. Ron McDole falls into that final category. Oh, and sub-packages were pretty rare in the 1960s and 1970s, so Marshall didn't leave the field much. The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only. The NFL is a star-driven league. Truth is, Norton should have been Super Bowl XXVII Most Valuable Player, not Troy Aikman, who was the obligatory quarterback pick. To make our list, a player must contribute to a winning effort while putting up bad stats, misunderstood stats or no stats. The Bucs hired head coach Jon Gruden and won Super Bowl XXXVII the next season. Bates has still developed into a leader in the Bengals secondary and arguably their best player on defense. How he slipped through the cracks for 13 years remains one of the unsolved mysteries in pro football. Waller overcame addiction and his suspension to emerge in 2019, catching 90 passes for 1,145 yards and three touchdowns while starting all 16 games for the Raiders. He reached the playoffs as a rookie backup in 2004 and a 32-year-old backup in 2015, but zero times in the decade in between. Hadl played quarterback, halfback, defensive back and punter for the University of Kansas. WebWho are the most underrated players of all time? Buckner is rarely discussed with the likes of Cameron Heyward, Fletcher Cox, or Grady Jarrett among the top interior defensive linemen (next tier behind Aaron Donald), but he is every bit as talented. Unless you live in Cleveland or are over 50, you probably have never heard of him. Passing wasn't really their thing. They would rank first in the NFL in yardage four other times while Evans was a starter. Brett Favre may be the player most responsible for bringing spectacle and success back to Titletown, but Butler brought back celebration. Lets hear some "un-der-ra-ted!" 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 announced his retirement from pro football in 2010, not long after signing with the Arizona Cardinals. Mike Williams is an elite deep threat at wide receiver and has maintained an average YPC of over 15 every year since 2018. Only a dozen players have more career interception return yards (961), and seven of them are in the Hall of Fame. He is also infamous for admitting on ESPN Radio that he once purposely let Packers defender Sean Jones sack Scott Mitchell so the struggling quarterback would get knocked out of a game. Johnson can line up all over the field and consistently find space in the opposing defense. He was a Pro Bowl regular, two-time All-Pro and Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1971. The most underrated player on all 32 NFL teams Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Pollard (20) runs with the ball while being tackled by Baltimore Ravens cornerback Marcus Peters (24) in the second quarter at M&T Bank Stadium. Jones played for the Cowboys from 1974-78 and 1980-89. C'mon, who doesn't love Darren Sproles and Mike Tolbert? Edouard Mendy - Chelsea. Ryan would blitz between five and eight defenders, plus some water boys and maybe a few boo birds from the 700 level of Veterans Stadium. His franchises just kept ending up on the wrong side of history. So LeRoy Butler, innovator of the Lambeau Leap, is excluded from his own statue. original sound - ftbl vids 221. Anderson's 1,000-yard seasons came in a primitive offense with a rudimentary passing game. Gheorghe Hagi, Romania. He was a six-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro. They never had any playoff success, even when they did make it into the postseason. The Packers believed they were a veteran quarterback away from a playoff run in 1974, so head coach/GM Dan Devine acquired the 34-year-old Rams quarterback by surrendering a ransom of draft picks huge enough to cause even Ryan Pace to do a spit take: two first-rounders, two second-rounders and a third-rounder. Steve Atwater. It takes more than mere greatness to be considered one of the most underrated players in pro football history. Web#shortsucl#bayernmunich #bayern #barcelona#football#footballedit#footballedits#footballshirts#soccer#socceredit#socceredits#soccershorts Player A passed for 27,928 yards and 194 touchdowns and ran for four touchdowns with mostly very good teams and one great one. It made the Bills of the early 1990s the greatest team to never win a Super Bowl. Why retain an expensive vestige of the last regime, or really the last three regimes? 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. Teams: Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, Tennessee Oilers, Pro Bowl appearances: Three (1984, 1988, 1989). Greenlaw is equally effective against the run and pass, a sure tackler, and brings plenty of energy to theNiners' defense. 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. Mills followed Mora to New Orleans and led the Dome Patrol linebacking corps, which brought the Saints franchise its first playoff appearances. Mike Kenn began his career playing left tackle for a lumbering 1970s power-running offense. Jones has also recorded at least 100 tackles every year since entering the league with the exception of 2018 when he played in only 6 games. Matthew Stafford is approaching 50,000 career passing yards, a number only topped by 11 quarterbacks in history. Tom Jackson. Bottom line: For 16 seasons, Henry Ellard wreaked havoc as a pass receiver and punt returner. Both players were Pro Bowlers the previous year. 10. Franklin-Myers went from fourth-round draft choice of the Rams in 2018, to a final roster cut in 2019. By the time Rivers is retired for five years, the "San Diego Chargers" will be as relevant as the Dayton Triangles, and Hall voters will be too busy rubber-stamping Tom Brady and Drew Brees to get to a guy from a lost city who couldn't win the big one. Web12. A lifelong Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Davids 10-year career has been about consistency and productivity. Juszczyk has made five Pro Bowl appearances, including each season since joining San Francisco in 2017. There are a ton of names in the conversation for best offensive linemen of all time, but Dierdorf never seems to have his name mentioned. As the Chargers faded, Rivers kept them in the wild-card picture and became the franchise's only recognizable public figure. Try Dave Krieg. Its hard to think of a player more dominant and less talked about over a long period of time than Chandler Jones. On the field, it is Diontae Johnson that has emerged as a favorite target of Big Ben. No, what youll see are lots of gaping holes the size of Boulder. At 67 Buckner also has a wide arsenal of pass rush moves to pressure the quarterback. Guys who played in Jacksonville repeatedly have been crapped on in Pro Bowl and Hall of Fame votes, none more so than Taylor during and after his 11 seasons there. Fifteen years ago, similar receivers were gimmicky undersized role players. Saleh has compared Franklin-Myers to Arik Armstead, whom he coached in SF while registering 10 sacks in 2019. 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 WebDespite being just 20-years-old, Pedri has become a key player for Barcelona The midfielder names his former teammate Lionel Messi as the 'best' ever He hopes to Travis Kelce and George Kittle dominate the conversation at tight end but Darren Waller is quickly emerging as a name that should be discussed as well. Man Utd's double winning Sam Mills rises above the rest of the gritty linebacker pack, at least when it comes to being underrated, because three of his greatest seasons have been erased from history. His .588 win percentage ranks second to Wilson in team history. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996. Buckner is a smart player and one of the better-run defenders in football. Feyenoord v VVV Venlo - Eredivisie. His 65 interceptions are fifth most in NFL history. Some of the 19 We look at the 10 most underrated players in football at the moment. While under the radar, Bates has emerged as one of the better all-around safeties in football. Teams: Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Cleveland Browns, New York Giants, Philadelphia Eagles, New England Patriots, Super Bowl championships: Two (1979, 1990). A mauler of a right guard, Timmerman also was agile enough to escort Marshall Faulk on screens and sweeps. You know the type. The AFL was an eight- to 10-team league, so All-Pro selections were easier to come by. He's also among the top 100 in games started (83rd), interception return yardage (89th) and interception return touchdowns (31st). Overshadowed on a bad team for much of his early career, Bates also came from a draft that featured top safeties Minkah Fitzpatrick and Derwin James. Unlike many of Marshall's teammates, however, he wasnt an obnoxious self-promoter, which partly explained his absence from the NFC Pro Bowl roster that season. Pro Football Reference rates him at near a Pro Bowl level well into his 30s. But there is no player; fans themselves get to "leap" into the statue for photo ops. His 2,690 all-purpose yards with the Titans in the 2000 season are second in league history. Henry Ellard spent the first five seasons of his NFL career returning punts and putting up humdrum receiving stats. Yes, Marshall amassed that sack total by playing foreverhe started270 games (plus 19 playoff starts) from 1961 through 1979. Following a strong start to 2021, McLaurin is slowly beginning to earn the respect his game deserves. If McCree doesn't cough up that fourth-quarter pick, the Chargers beat the Patriots, and perhaps Philip Rivers leads a team that went 14-2 in the regular season to the Super Bowl. Graham has only missed one game since 2012 prior to 2021, and similar to Hughes is a winning culture type of player. WebDon't hesitate to comment below with underrated players who you believe should have been on this list. The 49ers are installing a new system and reshaping their roster. In Dierdorfs second to last season, the Cardinals were embarrassed by the Packers 41-16 in their playoff opener. But what peak years they were: 14- and 13-win seasons, annual playoff appearances, routine 4,000-yard, 30-touchdown seasons. After making the Pro Bowl twice early in his career, David has failed to make it since 2015 while still playing at a high level. Marshall cant get his name even on the preliminary Hall of Fame ballot. So it takes a remarkable streak of hard luck for a running back to make this list. During his time at Fiorentina, he was the best player, 2. While the 2021 season is still early, Johnson looks to have cleaned up some issues with drops that hindered his 2020 performance and is perhaps the only thing stopping him from gaining more notoriety. 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. If the soft-spoken scatback had been in the right place at the right time, he would have filled his one nagging void a Super Bowl title and the exposure that accompanied it. Super Bowl victories? There is one football player who could score from literally anywhere, and his name is 2. Interior defensive linemen: The average height and weight for defensive tackles entering the league is 6-foot-3, 306 pounds. Jones is a three-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro selection. The best teams in the AFL proved to be NFL-caliber, but the bottom of the league was populated with a nearly bankrupt franchise or two, so the best players clumped on the best teams and stood out from the crowd. Rivers had neither, but he possessed just about everything else. Ronald Koeman is a bonafide legend of Dutch football. 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. He finished his career by doing something almost impossible: signing with the Patriots as a veteran role player during one of the few years they didn't reach the Super Bowl. While coverage is Bates' strength, he can still lay the big hit and be a factor in run support. Bowman is coming off an Achilles tear in 2016. Once an arbitrary number of players from a historic team get enshrined, the committee moves on in search of underappreciated players from other franchises. Anderson was not Payton, and the later-era Mike Ditka Bears could never approach the heights reached by the 1985 Bears. He played 256 career regular-season games, never missing a start due to injury. It is absurd that Jones isnt talked about more with his ability to impact games. He's not the kind of player a wise organization sheds to cut expenses. Lomas Brown played left tackle for four Lions playoff teams. So whaddya say, fans? Off to a fast start in 2021, Sutton is quickly reminding opposing defenses of his talent. Some might say it's a stretch to put Allen on this list after four straight Pro Bowl seasons and 95+ catch seasons. You mean future Hall of Fame tackle Orlando Pace didnt block four guys all by himself? Much of the Saints' offensive success in Evans' prime years is rightfully credited to Brees. Because he is one of the NFL's best defensive players, for one thing. Old-timers call it the Lawrence Welk trade after a television bandleader of the era who would begin songs by counting off "A one, and a two, and a three". Brandon Graham is an incredibly underrated defensive lineman and lifelong Philadelphia Eagle. At age 25, Franklin-Myers seems to be just scratching the surface of his potential and should benefit from some additional pieces being added to a young rebuilding Jets defense. In the 1950s and the days of 12-game regular seasons, he rushed for 3,078 yards, nearly 1,000 more than the runner-up. 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. Maybe not, seeing as Nalen has not had much success. He had one sack in four games, all Rams victories. Six All-Pro selections. He didnt just take up space, either. The Hall of Fame has turned up its nose on all of them. Year after year, Chandler Jones is one of the best pure pass rushers in football. 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. Ryan was Jim Brown's quarterback and then Leroy Kelly's quarterback. 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. In the nine seasons that Aaron Smith had double-digit starts, their D ranked among the top nine in yards allowed every time, but his consistent play went over the heads of many. The least glamorous position on the field, a so-so team, a franchise moveWisniewski pulled three lemons on the recognition slot machine. "That was my territory," Edwards recalled in The Palm Beach Post. Karl Mecklenburg. During his first four seasons, three with the Ravens and one in Oakland, Waller caught just 18 passes on 29 targets while also being suspended all of 2017. A great story off the field and rare talent on it, Waller appears to still be getting better at age 29. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER. 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. Super Bowl championships: Two (1996, 1999). No one else is even close. WebTop 20 Most Underrated NFL Players of All Time 20 Drew Brees. Two names that are familiar to even casual football fans sit atop the mountaintop of underrated NFL players for the 2015 regular season. His teams averaged 392.0 yards and 34.0 points in those games. 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. Fewer yet realize that he made a crucial play in each victory. Bahr converted 84 percent of his field-goal attempts (21 of 25), and 98 percent of his extra-point tries (40 of 41) when it counted most. Teams: Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Pro Bowl appearances: Three (1993, 1995, 1997), Super Bowl championships: Three (1992, 1993, 1994). That's its own kind of recognition. "Even now I still get pissed off. 1. And almost nobody remembers that, when Edwards caught the ball, he knew what to do it. "Underrated" is in the eye of the beholder, so let's establish some ground rules for these rankings: After that, players are ranked based how underappreciated they are, not how great they are. A dominant presence as a run blocker, Moton uses his athleticism to get to the next level of the defense in a hurry. Young played for some great 49ers teams, including a Super Bowl-winning squad as a rookie in 1994. Player A was a one-time Most Valuable Player who took part in four Pro Bowl games. Lambeau Field was an icy outpost; the Packers still played a handful of home games in Milwaukee back then. And let's not place the full burden of history on his shoulders, as Marty Schottenheimer, Norv Turner, the Chargers front office and Rivers himself had a hand in making the team a playoff also-ran during those peak years. Ogbah has always been a steady presence rushing the quarterback but broke out in 2020 during his first season with the Dolphins. If he started his career a decade earlier or a decade later, Young would have anchored the defense for one of history's great teams or helped push the Harbaugh 49ers over the top in the Super Bowl. Buckner plays within the defense, often allowing others to make plays, but remains a nightmare trying to block one on one. Bottom line: If an inquiring mind had asked "Which team will win the Super Bowl?" Randy Gradishar. Kolb set the Super Bowl standard for left tackles in Super Bowl IV, when he smoked undersized Minnesota Vikings end Jim Marshall like a bad cigar. At only 510, Johnson lacks the ideal size. Marshall reached just two Pro Bowls. Teams: Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Houston Texans. He also had some of the clutch gene. Honourable Mentions Hajime Hosogai, Hertha Berlin DM, Age: 27 There would not be another exchange of current Pro Bowlers in the NFL until the Broncos and Redskins exchanged Champ Bailey and Clinton Portis in 2004. He must either play for teams so good that they overshadow his accomplishments, or teams so bad that he had to do it all by himself. It's not that Ellard, an Olympic-caliber triple-jumper with 4.4 speed, didn't know what he was doing. And few were better at making opposing quarterbacks pay for mistakes. Membership on various All-1960s teams. With that in mind, NFL There's underrated, underappreciated and overlooked. Meet every NFL team's all-time most underrated player. And to think, the guy never played in a Pro Bowl game. Victory propelled Montana to superstardom, while defeat left the 32-year old Anderson to play out the string as a high-percentage passer for a rapidly disintegrating franchise. Even unspectacular ones manage to rack up a few 1,000-yard seasons and get drafted early in fantasy leagues. He led the Bengals to a pair of playoff appearances in 1973 and 1975, Joe Montana's high school senior and Notre Dame sophomore seasons. Evans, the best pass-protecting guard of his era, was charged with making sure pass-rushers didn't get close enough to Brees to bat his passes down, let alone sack him. Let's face it: An entire All-Underrated Team can be assembled using only Broncos defenders. WebOnce called the toughest cornerback in the NFL by Jerry Rice, Lewis would have received much more acclaim in his career if hed played a position that wasnt just following other Bowman is a four-time All-Pro and tremendous all-purpose linebacker who emerged as a stalwart leader for teams that otherwise might have packed it in before Labor Day. That may tick him off. Finally, at last, the cornerback was selected to play in his first Pro Bowl game as some kind of lifetime achievement award. Get this: Ten of those seasons were spent with either the Vince Lombardi Packers or Don Shula Dolphins. Related:Most Overrated NFL Players of All Time. Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images, Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images, Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images. Time has been hard on both of them. Whether they were disrespected by the media, or scrappy fan-favorites, every NFL team has had a selection of players that didnt get the attention they deserved. He won 65 percent of his NFL starts. Craters so big that you could drive a semi through them. Mills looks like just another local hero linebacker in the encyclopedias, albeit a good one. If John Hadl is remembered for anything these days, it's for one of the most disastrous trades in NFL history. Ogbah improved against the run while putting up a career-high in both sacks (9) and QB hits (21). Those accomplishments may soon finally land Kenn in the Hall of Fame. Buckner earned his first All-Pro honors in 2020 and still has plenty of untapped potential to take his game to another level at just 27 years old. Anderson became a footnote to the Ditka era, but fans who saw him play know he was far more than that. While Kreig didnt possess fleet feet or a bazooka arm, he could read defenses and throw an accurate ball. Robertson's Rams made a habit of reaching the playoffs every year and losing to the Vikings or Cowboys. Evans is a long shot to do either, which is a shame. McDole played 251 professional games as a defensive lineman, a remarkable feat in any era that should not be forgotten. 2023 Minute Media - All Rights Reserved. He then led three fourth-quarter comebacks to bring them back to the playoffs in 1965. He took over as the Bears' featured offensive weapon after the Super Bowl Shuffle years. Start with Adam Timmerman, who won Super Bowl rings with the Packers and Rams three years apart. Evans is still playing at a high level; the Packers hope that he can do for Aaron Rodgers what he did for Brees. While every fan base is sure to have two or three names they feel are undervalued and worthy of this list, here are my current top ten underrated players in the NFL. And because versatility is his calling card, he'll never produce gaudy sack totals or climb any all-time leaderboards. And none of them produce the numbers he generated in less hospitable systems. Bottom line: OK, kids, lets play Name That Hall of Famer. He also doesn't play in the shadow of a legend. Defensive Player of the Year awards? 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). One of the most underrated players in AM Football, Brodie Croyle was drafted into the NFL by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2006 after being a college football standout with the University of Alabama. With Warfield hurt nearly all of that season, Ryan helped make a Pro Bowler out of receiver/punter Gary Collins. But he didn't play for the legendary 49ers teams. Jackson finished his career with 11,438 rushing yards (18th all-time) and 15,121 total scrimmage yards (21st all-time). Along with Devin White, David was all over the field making plays around the ball and was one of the more valuable players in shutting down the Chiefs offense in the Super Bowl. They were the Yale football of the NFL, their glory years moldering in history books. If you guessed both or neither one, youre wrong. And he played in one stinking Pro Bowl game. 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. Shenault is dynamic after the catch and plays like a running back with the ball in his hands. Ohhh-kaaaaay, one of the Hasselbecks then? Teams kept doing something special to get their hands on Hadl. Bottom line: Terrell Davis rushed for 2,008 yards in his momentous 1998 season, but look at the game films and you wont see him fake out many defenders or break many tackles. But a double whammyplaying center and playing for the Broncoshas kept him miles from Hall of Fame consideration. Bates started every game during his first three seasons since entering the league in 2018, recording three interceptions in each season and averaging over 100 tackles.