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. Bottom line: For 16 seasons, Henry Ellard wreaked havoc as a pass receiver and punt returner. Meet every NFL team's all-time most underrated player. Marshall reached just two Pro Bowls. Ogbah improved against the run while putting up a career-high in both sacks (9) and QB hits (21). Jackson then moved on to Atlanta just after the collapse of the Mike Smith playoff teams but before the rise of the current Dan Quinn contenders. The rumors themselves were not surprising. Upon entering the league in 2019, Johnson recorded 59 catches as a rookie and then topped that mark in 2020 with 88 catches. Then again, the fourth-round draft pick had no choice. "No one was going to catch no ball.". Poor Louis Wright has a hard time even making the Broncos' overcrowded All-Snub Team. WebThe 10 most underrated football players of all time are: Gheorghe Hagi, Michael Laudrup, Gaetano Scirea, Hristo Stoichkov, Matthias Sammer, Davor Suker, Gunter Netzer, Franklin-Myers went from fourth-round draft choice of the Rams in 2018, to a final roster cut in 2019. That's where the politics of Hall voting come in. 100-91). He had one sack in four games, all Rams victories. 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. WebFive players made their "Top 100" debuts -- David Montgomery, Jimmie Ward, CeeDee Lamb, Justin Tucker and Kyle Pitts -- in Episode 1 (Nos. Dierdorf started his career with the Cardinals in 1971 as a guard. For a few years, he was not only the best guard in the NFL, but the most important. WebLet's face it: An entire All-Underrated Team can be assembled using only Broncos defenders. Raphael Guerreiro - Borussia Dortmund. And none of them produce the numbers he generated in less hospitable systems. Wouldnt you know it? He announced his retirement from pro football in 2010, not long after signing with the Arizona Cardinals. Oakland Raiders. Bowman doesn't get the recognition he's due, and he may have to get used to it. original sound - ftbl vids 221. Ohhh-kaaaaay, one of the Hasselbecks then? He has started every game he has played in since 2014 (with four different franchises). Even so, Smith was pretty much a well-kept secret outside Pittsburgh despite meeting or approaching Pro Bowl standards for almost a decade. 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. Butler was the NFL's most dangerous all-purpose safety for much of the 1990s. The Jaguars upset John Elway's Broncos and reached the AFC Championship Game as a second-year expansion team and then went on to three more playoff berths, culminating in a 14-2 season. The 49ers are installing a new system and reshaping their roster. That's a higher sack total than Dwight Freeney or Robert Mathis. He headed to Washington and moved from the weak to strong side. Numbers better than majority of RBs in history. It would rank 16th all-time, except that if we allow Marshall's sacks into the record, we would have to make room for Deacon Jones, Mean Joe Greene and others. Marshall cant get his name even on the preliminary Hall of Fame ballot. Off to a fast start in 2021, Sutton is quickly reminding opposing defenses of his talent. Jones is a three-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro selection. Even pesky third-down backs and gritty fullbacks may seem underrated until you realize how many of them become local heroes. Mike Kenn began his career playing left tackle for a lumbering 1970s power-running offense. He ran a Sonny Jurgensen pass back 59 yards in the fourth quarter to seal a Rams playoff win over the Redskins in 1974. You know the type. In addition to the most underrated and overrated Raiders of all time, Adam Rank goes on a mini-tirade about a criminally underrated coach. Bottom line: The Greatest Show On Turf boasted so much star power you couldnt tell the other Rams without a program. Krieg was a career overachiever who survived 19 seasons on modest talent with defense-driven teams. But c'mon: 289 regular-season and postseason starts, 127 sacks and four Super Bowl appearances, yet the Hall of Fame turns up its nose at Marshall as just a pretty good defender with a long career? It made the Bills of the early 1990s the greatest team to never win a Super Bowl. They say you know an offensive lineman is doing a great job when his name is rarely brought up, but its time Moton is talked about more for his success. That made Hull one of the first centers to make line adjustments on the fly. 25 Feb/23. 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. So Anderson cranked out a few 1,000-yard seasons and played in some Pro Bowls, and that was that. Far from it. Regardless of the Cardinals struggles, Dierdorf was a star. WebMost Underrated NFL Players of All Time These men did so much but received so little credit in return. Entering 2021, Moton had allowed only 10 sacks in over 2,000 pass-blocking snaps. Both Courtland Sutton and teammate Tim Patrick could easily make this list together as neither player is discussed nearly enough. With his career spread evenly across three teams and zero All-Pro selections (a consequence of playing in the same era as Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher), Fletcher is a Hall of Fame long shot. Nope, not Charles Haley. He was a participant in four Super Bowls and a member of two All-Pro teams. Interior defensive linemen: The average height and weight for defensive tackles entering the league is 6-foot-3, 306 pounds. Measurables. Start with Adam Timmerman, who won Super Bowl rings with the Packers and Rams three years apart. More than one scout considered Turner to be too light to play linebacker, too slow to play defensive back. The Colts accused Ryan of running up the score in the 27-0 championship rout of 1964. "When I was there, the thing we were missing was that explosive type of offense, and the new coach brought that in.". Some of the 19 His 42-yarder in the 1990 NFC championship game rates as one of the greatest clutch kicks in league history. Henry Ellard spent the first five seasons of his NFL career returning punts and putting up humdrum receiving stats. Saleh has compared Franklin-Myers to Arik Armstead, whom he coached in SF while registering 10 sacks in 2019. Lets not forget they also dominated with cold-blooded efficiency at the other side of the ball, where Keena Turner was rarely out of position at right outside linebacker. Moton has also committed just 10 penalties in over 50 career starts, an average of less than one penalty every five games. 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. That may tick him off. A great story off the field and rare talent on it, Waller appears to still be getting better at age 29. He rose to Pro Bowl status playing left tackle for a single-back, Joe Gibbs-style 1980s offense. The Bucs hired head coach Jon Gruden and won Super Bowl XXXVII the next season. No one should expect to make money from the picks and predictions discussed on this website. During his time at Fiorentina, he was the best player, 2. Bottom line: Quick, name the winningest Seahawks quarterback before the Russell Wilson era. Let's take a look at the the five most underrated footballers of all time. While under the radar, Bates has emerged as one of the better all-around safeties in football. Make no mistake about it, Eric Bieniemys exodus from Kansas City to Washington is only one move on the chess board Brandon Graham is an incredibly underrated defensive lineman and lifelong Philadelphia Eagle. There is one football player who could score from literally anywhere, and his name is 2. It's not that Ellard, an Olympic-caliber triple-jumper with 4.4 speed, didn't know what he was doing. 10. The easiest way to be overlooked by history is to replace a legend just after a franchise has peaked. One of the greatest defenders in the history of a storied franchise, Young is just another victim of bad timing when it comes to getting the reputation he deserves. Related:Most Overrated NFL Players of All Time. Steve Atwater. Both players were Pro Bowlers the previous year. As for being so underrated he's overrated, wellthat's extremely underrated, which justifies Anderson's ranking here. He also scored 35 touchdowns on the ground in that span. In Dierdorfs second to last season, the Cardinals were embarrassed by the Packers 41-16 in their playoff opener. Jerry Hughes has been a consistent pass rusher and important piece to the Buffalo Bills defense. Much of the Saints' offensive success in Evans' prime years is rightfully credited to Brees. The guy should demand a recount, I tell ya. McDole's Bills defenses held opponents to fewer than 3.1 yards per carry across three consecutive seasons. A new generation of superstar left tackles entered the league as Brown was peaking, and he spent the latter half of his career bouncing from team to team as Tony Boselli, Willie Roaf, Orlando Pace, Jonathan Ogden and Walter Jones turned the blindside protector into an almost glamorous position. The converted all-purpose athlete became one of the fathers of modern quarterbacking. WebThe Top 10 Most Underrated Football Players of All Time 1. There are no official sack statistics before 1982, but the Minnesota Vikings credit Jim Marshall with 127 career sacks. Bates has still developed into a leader in the Bengals secondary and arguably their best player on defense. Time has been hard on both of them. Teams: Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Houston Texans. The NFL is now full of receivers like Mason, but few of them are as productive as he was for over a decade. What Mason did have was a keen attention to detail and fanatical drive to succeed. 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. Not one of the Jim Harbaugh-era guys. The Bills were among the first teams to frequently operate without a huddle. Honourable Mentions Hajime Hosogai, Hertha Berlin DM, Age: 27 David has amassed 12 interceptions, 16 fumble recoveries, 24 forced fumbles, and 53 pass deflections during his career. 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. Those accomplishments may soon finally land Kenn in the Hall of Fame. Steve Atwater. Karl Mecklenburg. WebTop ten under-capped England players is a list Foden and Maddison want to avoid Matt Le Tissier won 10 fewer England caps than Carlton Palmer. "I dont get it. Bates is a ball-hawking safety in coverage with excellent range, intelligence, and athleticism. And to think, the guy never played in a Pro Bowl game. "I wasnt the fastest guy, but I didnt mind having the defender at my hip," Ellard said per Yahoo Sports. Year after year, Chandler Jones is one of the best pure pass rushers in football. TGT Play! Odds Deals Podcasts US USA Arizona California Colorado Connecticut Florida Georgia Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Louisiana Maryland Michigan New Jersey New York North Carolina Ohio It takes years of playing the wrong position for the wrong team in the wrong league at the wrong time. 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. 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. But Hadl had to do something to make the Packers think he was worth two armfuls of draft picks. He was overshadowed by more famous teammates throughout his career. Butler has never even been a Hall of Fame semifinalist, and it's not going to happen for him soon. ", Teams: St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Oilers, Buffalo Bills, Washington Redskins, Pro Bowl appearances (AFL All-Star Game): Two (1965, 1967). Jones played for the Cowboys from 1974-78 and 1980-89. Theyre the core players who are overshadowed by more well-paid, high-profile teammates and just plain pathetic, shameless self-promoters. Buckner is a smart player and one of the better-run defenders in football. 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. Even unspectacular ones manage to rack up a few 1,000-yard seasons and get drafted early in fantasy leagues. Guards don't make the Hall of Fame unless they win multiple Super Bowls or play forever. How he slipped through the cracks for 13 years remains one of the unsolved mysteries in pro football. Ryan needed surgery and was in constant pain for the rest of his career. The correct answer is Player A (Ken Stabler), and if youre Player B (Brodie), you have to wonder if one Super Bowl should make that much difference. Player A was a one-time Most Valuable Player who took part in four Pro Bowl games. 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. With Warfield hurt nearly all of that season, Ryan helped make a Pro Bowler out of receiver/punter Gary Collins. He didnt just take up space, either. But the diminutive Brees would not have been able to lead the Saints to a Super Bowl and several seasons as top contenders without a clean pocket, particularly right in front of him. WebTop 20 Most Underrated NFL Players of All Time 20 Drew Brees. Graham has only missed one game since 2012 prior to 2021, and similar to Hughes is a winning culture type of player. So LeRoy Butler, innovator of the Lambeau Leap, is excluded from his own statue. 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. If Anderson had failed, the 49ers may never have lured Walsh away from the Bengals staff. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem, call 1-800-GAMBLER. The problem with Dierdorf is he played for a lot of bad Cardinals teams. New England Patriots wide receiver Stanley Morgan, right, battles for Efficient? (Bonus point: Schlereth doesnt suck as a broadcaster on ESPN. He's the Rams' all-time leading rusher with almost 3,000 more yards for the franchise than Marshall Faulk or Eric Dickerson. They're the working stiffs who bust their butts at so-called lesser positions, on teams that are seldom seen on highlights shows, let alone national television. His 65 interceptions are fifth most in NFL history. The Niners' willingness to spend big money on a long-term deal at fullback demonstrates the value and unique skill set Juszczyk provides. Robertson was one of the NFL's fastest linebackers in the 1970s. But things were different in the long-ago 1990s, when the sports universe belonged to teal-emblazoned expansion franchises and a youngish Tom Coughlin received a binder full of press clippings from the mother of a wide receiver ready to call it quits after injuries derailed his Cowboys career. It takes bad timing and bad luck. There are a ton of names in the conversation for best offensive linemen of all time, but Dierdorf Also, the field was often a block of ice. Then it was off to Carolina, where he earned an All-Pro selection for leading the Panthers to the NFC Championship Game as a second-year expansion team during his age-37 season. 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. Fleming was a reliable backup tight end/wide receiver who played with four Super Bowl-winners (and one NFL champion) in a dozen seasons. An undrafted quarterback out of the late Milton College (Wisconsin), Krieg got them to the postseason four times and the AFC championship game once. WebDeion Sanders: Deion Sanders is one of the most underrated players of all time. If you guessed both or neither one, youre wrong. Naturally, it also guarantees that some of the best players in the country get overshadowed and forgotten in the sport's warp-speed news cycle. "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. 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. Ellard was an Antonio Brown-level talent in his prime, but his teams were in no hurry to get him the ball. After spending a season on the practice squad and injured-reserve with the Jets, Franklin-Myers made the most of his opportunities as a rotational player throughout most of 2020, leading to a starting role in 2021 and a massive $55M extension. The AFL was an eight- to 10-team league, so All-Pro selections were easier to come by. 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. We look at the 10 most underrated players in football at the moment. 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. Addiction soon began consuming Smith's career, and then his life. That's its own kind of recognition. Running backs suffer none of the "didn't win the big game" biases that color our perception of quarterbacks. David entered the league as a terrific coverage linebacker and has continued to grow into an all-around complete linebacker and playmaker. Craters so big that you could drive a semi through them. 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 Jeff Saturday had to translate Peyton Manning's spur-of-the-moment audibles into protection schemes a split second before the snap. Ron McDole falls into that final category. It is absurd that Jones isnt talked about more with his ability to impact games. Tom Jackson. It was a motivating factor for a number of years in my career. But his Hall of Fame candidacy has been stuck in semifinalist limbo. 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. There, he led a relentless Redskins pass rush in their Super Bowl XXVI ambush. The Packers were a team with more history than identity when Butler arrived. Juszczyk knows his role and is a winning player that will always fight to win those tough yards. Brown is now best known as a television personality. Passing wasn't really their thing. 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. All picks and predictions are suggestions only. And he played in one stinking Pro Bowl game. Teams: Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, Tennessee Oilers, Pro Bowl appearances: Three (1984, 1988, 1989). He's rarely mentioned as an all-time great. The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only. Other than Steve Largent and Kurt Warner, Pro Bowlers were harder to find in the Seahawks offense than a haystack in the Space Needle. He enjoyed one of the greatest receiving games in NFL history: 15 catches, 291 yards and three touchdowns against the historic 2000 Ravens defense. He blitzed (20.5 sacks). Kenn is one of the NFL's all-time great players and leaders, and his impact ranges far beyond his playing career. And because versatility is his calling card, he'll never produce gaudy sack totals or climb any all-time leaderboards. While Stafford's game is Hall of Fame worthy, an 0-3 career record in the playoffs on some flawed Lions teams has done little to elevate his name into the conversation of top QBs. Its hard to think of a player more dominant and less talked about over a long period of time than Chandler Jones. C'mon, who doesn't love Darren Sproles and Mike Tolbert? Arizona Cardinals: Dan Dierdorf. He was a six-time Pro Bowler and three-time All-Pro. Anderson is no Hall of Famerthe middle of his career is a morass of ordinary-at-best seasonsbut he was a pioneer and an innovator. 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. Web#shortsucl#bayernmunich #bayern #barcelona#football#footballedit#footballedits#footballshirts#soccer#socceredit#socceredits#soccershorts He had to blanket a wide receiver in man coverage with no safety help on every play. Bottom line: OK, kids, lets play Name That Hall of Famer. Young was a devastating interior pass-rusher who recorded 30 sacks in the three-year span from 1998 through 2000. On the field, it is Diontae Johnson that has emerged as a favorite target of Big Ben. Web12. Edouard Mendy of Chelsea celebrates after his sides victory in the Premier League match 2. Is Jalen Hurts the Future of the Philadelphia Eagles? McLaurin registered 87 catches in 2020 after 58 during his rookie season in 2019. Mason's 95-catch, 1,200-yard seasons translate to 115-catch monsters in more pass-oriented schemes. Young played for the teams that slowly slid from George Seifert to Steve Mariucci to oblivion. Ronald Koeman. In Super Bowl IX, Edwards killed a drive and darn near Vikings intended receiver John Gilliam on a hellacious hit near the goal line. Oh, and sub-packages were pretty rare in the 1960s and 1970s, so Marshall didn't leave the field much. Butler is all but guaranteed to get lost in the shuffle. A Colts defender delivered some payback in the all-star game. Without Kenn, there might not be free agency in the NFL, to say nothing of limitations on practice conditions and other initiatives that make pro football less dangerous than it was decades ago. There's underrated, underappreciated and overlooked. Were talking about the most unsung, underappreciated players in NFL history here. Lambeau Field was an icy outpost; the Packers still played a handful of home games in Milwaukee back then. Greenwood, but there are dozens of other great old players clamoring for their chance who didn't enjoy the glory of playing for a "team of the decade.". 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. This past offseason, Juszczyk signed a five-year $27M contract to return to the 49ers, making him the highest-paid fullback in football by a wide margin. He had the speed to get to the edge and beat defenders down the sideline, the power to plow through tackles, the elusiveness to make things happen in the open field and receiving chops to rival contemporaries Roger Craig or Thurman Thomas. And Jackson spent a generation as a pre- and postgame show staple, which puts him in a whole different category. But his Rams had a running back named Eric Dickerson and quarterbacks named Dieter Brock and Jeff Kemp. ), Teams: Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers, Super Bowl championships: Two (1974, 1975). They were the Yale football of the NFL, their glory years moldering in history books. Mostly Schlereth and sidekick Tom Nalen, who were masters of zone-blocking schemes, a major reason why Davis is in the Hall of Fame today. Fletcher followed Gregg Williams from coaching stop to coaching stop, serving as the sometimes controversial, always effective defensive mastermind's field marshal. He helped the Packers win a Super Bowl. Web20 most underrated football players of all time 1. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports By Sam Monson May 13, Feyenoord v VVV Venlo - Eredivisie. #5. A mauler of a right guard, Timmerman also was agile enough to escort Marshall Faulk on screens and sweeps. Here are ten of the most underrated college football players of all time. All advice, including picks and predictions, is based on individual commentators opinions and not that of Minute Media or its related brands. He played center, as well, before his career was over. Brett Favre may be the player most responsible for bringing spectacle and success back to Titletown, but Butler brought back celebration. In both New England and Arizona, Jones has wreaked havoc on quarterbacks, demonstrating versatility as a 3-4 OLB and 4-3 DE. Bottom line: Derrick Mason was among the shrewdest, most precise route runners of his time. Super Bowl championships: Four (1981, 1984, 1988, 1989). Arizona Cardinals: Kelvin Beachum, OT. Yes, Marshall amassed that sack total by playing foreverhe started270 games (plus 19 playoff starts) from 1961 through 1979. Gheorghe Hagi, Romania. Hence, the Campbell video. Not enough credit is given to Waller who lacks the Shanahan offense or elite QB to help take his game to the next level. In their two Super Bowl seasons that followed, Young was a virtual nonfactor in the matchup. "It was tough, but I was happy for those guys," Dunn told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He returned eight interceptions for touchdowns, including four in 1993 and three during his age-35 season with the Raiders in 2000. 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. While Graham's sack numbers have never hit double digits, he remains a complete player and Super Bowl champion. 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. 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. He became an All-Pro playing blindside protector in an early 1990s run-'n'-shoot offense. WebThe NFL is increasingly becoming a passing league. Angel Di Maria. Put him on the Tom Brady-led Patriots, and Mason might have invented a new branch of mathematics. The Over-the-Hill Gang fielded one of the most ferocious pass rushes of its era, notching 53 sacks in 1973.