Not Fred Dean. A great story off the field and rare talent on it, Waller appears to still be getting better at age 29. The start to his career is Hall of Fame worthy and includes a Super Bowl championship while with the New England Patriots. Who knows what the NFL might have looked like then? 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. WebThe 10 most underrated football players of all time are: Gheorghe Hagi, Michael Laudrup, Gaetano Scirea, Hristo Stoichkov, Matthias Sammer, Davor Suker, Gunter Netzer, He enjoyed one of the greatest receiving games in NFL history: 15 catches, 291 yards and three touchdowns against the historic 2000 Ravens defense. Build your customFanSided Daily email newsletter with news and analysis onAll NFL and all your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and more. Ryan was Jim Brown's quarterback and then Leroy Kelly's quarterback. Butler's defensive accomplishments might have brought him to the cusp of immortality, but don't underestimate the power of that Lambeau Leap. Johnny Robinson's credentials make you want to drive to Canton, kick down the Hall of Fame's door and clear a spot for his bust yourself. Super Bowl championships: Four (1981, 1984, 1988, 1989). 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. Karl Mecklenburg. WebLet's face it: An entire All-Underrated Team can be assembled using only Broncos defenders. A mauler of a right guard, Timmerman also was agile enough to escort Marshall Faulk on screens and sweeps. 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. If Anderson had failed, the 49ers may never have lured Walsh away from the Bengals staff. 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. Not bad for a guy who might as well have played in a straight jacket for 14 seasons. Hull started his professional career with the USFL's New Jersey Generals, where he helped Herschel Walker rush for 2,411 yards in one 18-game season. Starting in at least 13 games every year since entering the league in 2012, David has finished just one season with less than 100 tackles. 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. Rivers had neither, but he possessed just about everything else. They never had any playoff success, even when they did make it into the postseason. You know the type. Moton started all 16 games each of the last four years, gradually improving and joining the conversation of best right tackles in football. That feeling never really went away.". His 65 interceptions are fifth most in NFL history. Brown is now best known as a television personality. No one else is even close. No one should expect to make money from the picks and predictions discussed on this website. Playing in Detroit can stifle any career. Jones is a three-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro 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. McDole is not known for much of anything anymore, as his AFL stardom came before the Super Bowl era and his Redskins heroics predated the era of Joe Gibbs and the Hogs. 1 overall pick, NFL coverage map 2021: TV schedule Week 16, Seattle Seahawks: 3 players who wont be back in 2022. As for being so underrated he's overrated, wellthat's extremely underrated, which justifies Anderson's ranking here. In Super Bowl IX, Edwards killed a drive and darn near Vikings intended receiver John Gilliam on a hellacious hit near the goal line. Dont let the numbers fool you Morgan wasnt a one-trick racehorse. If you guessed both or neither one, youre wrong. Dierdorf started his career with the Cardinals in 1971 as a guard. The Lions drafted him as a running back. Its easy to forget the Seahawks had some pretty good teams way back when, even a few playoff ones. He was one of the first true slot receivers of 21st-century NFL offenses. The difference between the great and the all-time great is often a matter of timing and luck. Steven Jackson arrived in St. Louis just as the Greatest Show on Turf was deteriorating into the Most Miserable Slog in the Midwest. Anderson was the first quarterback to successfully orchestrate the beta version of Bill Walsh's West Coast offense for multiple seasons. Honourable Mentions Hajime Hosogai, Hertha Berlin DM, Age: 27 Both Courtland Sutton and teammate Tim Patrick could easily make this list together as neither player is discussed nearly enough. Hull was not just a great lineman but a groundbreaking one. You will find some familiar Hall of Fame snubs on this list (like Jim Marshall, pictured above), but also plenty of players who were even snubbed from the Hall of Fame snubs, plus some current players who aren't getting their due. 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. There are a ton of names in the conversation for best offensive linemen of all time, but Dierdorf 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. 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. But Hadl had to do something to make the Packers think he was worth two armfuls of draft picks. 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. Anchoring defenses with catchy names like the "Orange Crush?" Robertson is so poorly remembered that it was hard to find a decent photo of him in our archives. McDole's Bills defenses held opponents to fewer than 3.1 yards per carry across three consecutive seasons. Allen made a lot of plays. Time has been hard on both of them. WebThis list is for those players the ones who were great football players and did not get the credit they deserve. Edouard Mendy of Chelsea celebrates after his sides victory in the Premier League match 2. Wright earned a second-team All-1970s nod from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, even though several of his signature years were in the 1980s. Teams: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons, Pro Bowl appearances: Three (1997, 2000, 2005). The easiest way to be overlooked by history is to replace a legend just after a franchise has peaked. Bowman doesn't get the recognition he's due, and he may have to get used to it. "It was tough, but I was happy for those guys," Dunn told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 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. 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.". In Jahri Evans' four All-Pro seasons (2009-12), the Saints ranked first, sixth, first and second in the NFL in total yards. But three of his best seasons are not listed in the encyclopedias. 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. Its hard to think of a player more dominant and less talked about over a long period of time than Chandler Jones. It's better to be remembered for one of the most painful moments in your career than to not be remembered at all. But his Hall of Fame candidacy has been stuck in semifinalist limbo. Ryan threw five touchdown passes and ran for a sixth to beat the Giants and lead the Browns to the NFL championship in 1964. Player B passed for 31,548 yards and 214 touchdowns and ran for 22 touchdowns with below average-to-good teams. During his nine seasons in Buffalo, Hughes has emerged as a leader while registering double-digits in QB hits every season but one. He lacked the straight-line speed to be a game-breaker. Evans is still playing at a high level; the Packers hope that he can do for Aaron Rodgers what he did for Brees. On a walk-through between center and left guard, naturally. Put him on the Tom Brady-led Patriots, and Mason might have invented a new branch of mathematics. He recorded four consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons from 1988 through 1991, a rare feat at the time. The least glamorous position on the field, a so-so team, a franchise moveWisniewski pulled three lemons on the recognition slot machine. A longtime semifinalist, his case is about to be handed over to the Veterans Committee, which has done a fine job recently of correcting oversights from Kenn's era. 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 The Jaguars, meanwhile, slowly descended to their current status as the NFL's punching bag. 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. All betting content is intended for an audience ages 21+. Following a strong start to 2021, McLaurin is slowly beginning to earn the respect his game deserves. 1. Regardless of the Cardinals struggles, Dierdorf was a star. The Hall of Fame eluded Ellard for several reasons: comparisons to Rice, the Rams' move to St. Louis (it takes hometown writers and buzz to mount a campaign) and those five early seasons in a ground-and-pound offense. Some of the 19 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. Both players were Pro Bowlers the previous year. 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. 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. Buckner plays within the defense, often allowing others to make plays, but remains a nightmare trying to block one on one. Mike Kenn began his career playing left tackle for a lumbering 1970s power-running offense. One of the greatest defenders of his era reduced to stuntman status in Campbell's action movieall it takes is a moment to make a player underrated forever. 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. Robinson was one of those players. Related:Most Overrated NFL Players of All Time. So LeRoy Butler, innovator of the Lambeau Leap, is excluded from his own statue. 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. 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. WebDeion Sanders: Deion Sanders is one of the most underrated players of all time. 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. His 42-yarder in the 1990 NFC championship game rates as one of the greatest clutch kicks in league history. Is Jalen Hurts the Future of the Philadelphia Eagles? Feyenoord v VVV Venlo - Eredivisie. Graham has only missed one game since 2012 prior to 2021, and similar to Hughes is a winning culture type of player. Hall of Fame receiver Paul Warfield was on the receiving end of many of Ryan's touchdowns. Teams: Los Angeles Rams, Washington Redskins. (Bonus point: Schlereth doesnt suck as a broadcaster on ESPN. Bottom line: Derrick Mason was among the shrewdest, most precise route runners of his time. Actually, theres a simple explanation. On the field, it is Diontae Johnson that has emerged as a favorite target of Big Ben. 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. So it takes a remarkable streak of hard luck for a running back to make this list. 25 Feb/23. 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. But the run-'n'-shoot took away more than it provided, and the early 1990s Lions kept getting obliterated by better defenses in the playoffs. No matter. That voter meant every fanbase has a beloved old defender, renowned for his toughness and leadership, that they swear belongs in the Hall of Fame. "Stanley Steamer" could run every route and was hell on wheels with the ball in his hands. 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. Oh, and Norton scored the final touchdown of the game on a 9-yard fumble return. Mike Williams is an elite deep threat at wide receiver and has maintained an average YPC of over 15 every year since 2018. It's hard for a running back to be underrated. Teams: Washington Redskins, Denver Broncos, Super Bowl championships: Three (1991, 1997, 1998). Actually, make that four careers. And consider this: The one-time college triple-jumper played with a Pro Bowl quarterback (Jim Everett) in only one season. A Hall of Fame voter once warned me that "every town has its linebacker.". Here on the All-Time Underrated List, it counts for a lot. He then led three fourth-quarter comebacks to bring them back to the playoffs in 1965. The career active leader in games started by a defensive lineman is Julius Peppers with 227.
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