20 most underrated football players of all time

NaVorro Bowman trade rumors surfaced in early spring, only to be quickly squelched by new 49ers general manager John Lynch. If the quarterback got rid of the ball before getting crushed, it was up to Allen to make a play. Smith produced nine 1,000-yard seasons in 10 years, including two 100-plus-catch seasons in an era when they were still relatively uncommon. It takes more than mere greatness to be considered one of the most underrated players in pro football history. 10 Most Underrated Football Players - Sports Al Dente Young was a devastating interior pass-rusher who recorded 30 sacks in the three-year span from 1998 through 2000. The Steelers rushed for a then-record 249 yards and did not allow a sack. Bottom line: Adam Vinatieri was money in the postseason, but Matt Bahr was even better. WebWhile 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. While coverage is Bates' strength, he can still lay the big hit and be a factor in run support. The most similar current player to Anderson is Pittsburgh's Le'Veon Bell, but Bell plays in a modern offense that amplifies his production instead of suppressing it. One look at the logjam forming outside the entrance to Canton tells you Wisniewski isn't moving up the ladder anytime soon. 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. Mills and Reggie White were the USFL's two greatest defenders ever. Efficient? The Pro Football Reference Similar Players tool compares Ryan's five-year peak to that of Joe Theismann. Players like McDole are what all-time underrated lists exist for. The only lineman to start all four of those games was a workout warrior and routinely bench-pressed 550 pounds in his prime. The trade went how you might expect a lopsided midseason deal for an aging quarterback to go. On a walk-through between center and left guard, naturally. But this list is all about giving overlooked players their due respect. Arizona Cardinals: Dan Dierdorf. They lost to the Vikings 30-14 in the 1974 Wildcard Round, and they were defeated by the Rams 35-23 in the opening round of the playoffs in 1975. The 6'2" Wright was renowned as a run-stuffing cornerbackthat's him tackling Walter Payton in the photobut he also intercepted 26 career passes, even though opposing quarterbacks spent much of his career avoiding him. Bottom line: The 49ers of the 1980s are remembered most for Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, coach Bill Walsh and the West Coast offense. 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. 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. Bowman doesn't get the recognition he's due, and he may have to get used to it. Put Ellard in another era or even the AFC with an accomplished quarterback, and his legacy as The Best Wideout Not Named Jerry Rice would be that much greater. It was a motivating factor for a number of years in my career. When the team inducted Smith into the Pride of the Jaguars ring of honor last year, it was the strange case of a moribund franchise honoring a former receiver still on parole for succumbing to the demons of addiction. In two Super Bowl trips, Bahr didnt miss a kick three field goals, six PATs. 2023 NFL Scouting Combine: Day 2 Recap (Fantasy Football) As a pass blocker, Moton has developed into a steady presence capable of holding his own, and at times even dominating top pass rushers that include Joey Bosa and Cameron Jordan. Young played for some great 49ers teams, including a Super Bowl-winning squad as a rookie in 1994. He took over as the Bears' featured offensive weapon after the Super Bowl Shuffle years. Most underrated NFL players on all Top 20 Most Underrated Footballers in 2022 - Top Soccer Blog Graham has only missed one game since 2012 prior to 2021, and similar to Hughes is a winning culture type of player. But Anderson was an extraordinary talent. "It was tough, but I was happy for those guys," Dunn told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 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. McDole's Bills defenses held opponents to fewer than 3.1 yards per carry across three consecutive seasons. Ronald Koeman. And no Hall of Famers allowed. (Bonus point: Schlereth doesnt suck as a broadcaster on ESPN. Those accomplishments may soon finally land Kenn in the Hall of Fame. 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. That's where the politics of Hall voting come in. Dunn left Tampa Bay as a free agent after the 2001 season and headed to Atlanta, largely because of his relationship with Arthur Blank, the Falcons owner. 100-91). He intercepted 34 passes for the Eagles and 54 in his career. Waller upped his game in 2020 and hauled in 107 passes and nine touchdowns to earn his first Pro Bowl nod. Lets hear some "un-der-ra-ted!" And he played in one stinking Pro Bowl game. He's the Rams' all-time leading rusher with almost 3,000 more yards for the franchise than Marshall Faulk or Eric Dickerson. At 5-foot-10, 190 pounds, he didnt wow anyone physically. He isn't the dynamic threat thatTyreek Hill orDavante Adams are, but Allen is an elite route runner that consistently puts up elite production. Or as astute NBC broadcaster Dick Enberg scored it, "KO for Ken Norton.". He intercepted 25 career regular-season passes and two more in the postseason. They would rank first in the NFL in yardage four other times while Evans was a starter. Franklin-Myers went from fourth-round draft choice of the Rams in 2018, to a final roster cut in 2019. NFL He also had some of the clutch gene. The best we can offer is a little bit of credit where a lot is due. Hadl played quarterback, halfback, defensive back and punter for the University of Kansas. By the time the 49ers are great again, Bowman may be in his early 30s or on another team. WebTop 20 Most Underrated Footballers in 2022 1. Finally, at last, the cornerback was selected to play in his first Pro Bowl game as some kind of lifetime achievement award. A lifelong Tampa Bay Buccaneer, Davids 10-year career has been about consistency and productivity. most underrated players in football at That's not something to hold against a player. Evans is a long shot to do either, which is a shame. It's hard for a running back to be underrated. He's also among the top 100 in games started (83rd), interception return yardage (89th) and interception return touchdowns (31st). Teams: Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Pro Bowl appearances: Three (1993, 1995, 1997), Super Bowl championships: Three (1992, 1993, 1994). Hall of Fame receiver Paul Warfield was on the receiving end of many of Ryan's touchdowns. 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. Beachum has lined up at both left and right tackle but displayed Ohhh-kaaaaay, one of the Hasselbecks then? Coaches rave about his work off the field and his dedication to improving his craft. That's a higher sack total than Dwight Freeney or Robert Mathis. 10 Most Underrated Promising Football Players In The World Poor Louis Wright has a hard time even making the Broncos' overcrowded All-Snub Team. Overall, the total still ranks ninth at the position. Jacksonville's all-time leading receiver is now beginning what he calls the "second chapter in his life." Hadl signed with the Chargers instead, and Sid Gilman built him into the trigger man for an offense from which all modern offenses descended. Teams: Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots, Bottom line: Fred Taylor once tweeted, "I earned respect on the field. 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. 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. WebThis list is for those players the ones who were great football players and did not get the credit they deserve. Steve Atwater. 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. McLaurin registered 87 catches in 2020 after 58 during his rookie season in 2019. But Brown was a unique and underappreciated player for over a decade on a team that nearly revolutionized the way football is played. Hull never lived to see himself make a Hall of Fame semifinalist list, as he died of liver failure at age 50 in 2011. Even so, Smith was pretty much a well-kept secret outside Pittsburgh despite meeting or approaching Pro Bowl standards for almost a decade. In his most prolific early season, he caught 54 passes for 811 yards and five touchdowns. Bottom line: Derrick Mason was among the shrewdest, most precise route runners of his time. And because versatility is his calling card, he'll never produce gaudy sack totals or climb any all-time leaderboards. Passing wasn't really their thing. Sanders was an extremely WebThe 10 most underrated football players of all time are: Gheorghe Hagi, Michael Laudrup, Gaetano Scirea, Hristo Stoichkov, Matthias Sammer, Davor Suker, Gunter Netzer, Hes also among a select few to be a four-time Super Bowl champion. 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. Anderson's 1,000-yard seasons came in a primitive offense with a rudimentary passing game. shaka wear graphic tees is candy digital publicly traded ellen lawson wife of ted lawson most underrated nfl players 2000s. The 49ers drafted linebacker Reuben Foster at the bottom of the first round. 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. Bottom line: OK, kids, lets play Name That Hall of Famer. Bottom line: In his 15th and final season, the 36-year-old Ken Riley had eight interceptions and returned two of them for touchdowns, one of the most incredible performances by an old man ever. "It pissed me off," Fletcher replied. There are over 120 teams that compete in the FBS, which means that storylines and hidden superstars abound. Start with Adam Timmerman, who won Super Bowl rings with the Packers and Rams three years apart. Drew Brees endured an average of just 24 sacks per season in Evans' All-Pro seasons, despite typically dropping back to pass over 650 times per year. He didnt just take up space, either. Since 2013, Jones has registered six double-digit sack seasons including a 17 sack season in 2017 that led the NFL, and a career-high of 19 in 2019. 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. 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. They didnt do anything that Tobin Rote hadnt done a long time ago. If John Hadl is remembered for anything these days, it's for one of the most disastrous trades in NFL history. 25 Feb/23. But so were teammates like Len Dawson, Willie Lanier, Buck Buchanan, Bobby Bell, Curley Culp and Jan Stenerud, all of whom are in the Hall of Fame. But outside of Wisconsin, his accomplishments were mostly forgotten shortly after his career ended in 2001. He had one sack in four games, all Rams victories. 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. Tom Jackson. Chiesa is a winger who plays for Juventus. Robertson was one of the NFL's fastest linebackers in the 1970s. 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. Rivers had neither, but he possessed just about everything else. While Kreig didnt possess fleet feet or a bazooka arm, he could read defenses and throw an accurate ball. Robinson is a staple of Hall of Fame Snubs lists, and he certainly has his case. Meet every NFL team's all-time most underrated player. On the field, it is Diontae Johnson that has emerged as a favorite target of Big Ben. 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. #5. There will never be another player like Marshall. Along with the legendary Johnny Unitas, Rote probably did more to change the quarterback position than anyone in the pre-merger era even if so few know it. 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. Bowman is coming off an Achilles tear in 2016. Pro Football Reference rates him at near a Pro Bowl level well into his 30s. Moton has also committed just 10 penalties in over 50 career starts, an average of less than one penalty every five games. That makes sense: Both started their careers late, played with workhorse running backs, won a championship and had their careers curtailed by vicious hits. Anderson became a footnote to the Ditka era, but fans who saw him play know he was far more than that. The Jaguars, meanwhile, slowly descended to their current status as the NFL's punching bag. But the former NFL Man of the Year award winner and two-time All-Pro should not have had to wait so long. There are a ton of names in the conversation for best offensive linemen of all time, but Dierdorf Maybe not, seeing as Nalen has not had much success. 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. Here is every NFL teams most underrated player of all time. But there is no player; fans themselves get to "leap" into the statue for photo ops. Ryan threw five touchdown passes and ran for a sixth to beat the Giants and lead the Browns to the NFL championship in 1964. David entered the league as a terrific coverage linebacker and has continued to grow into an all-around complete linebacker and playmaker. The statue portrays jubilant Packers fans in tundra-weather gear appearing to cradle a player who just pounced into the stands. Sideways. A dominant presence as a run blocker, Moton uses his athleticism to get to the next level of the defense in a hurry. Oakland Raiders. And almost nobody remembers that, when Edwards caught the ball, he knew what to do it. Is Jalen Hurts the Future of the Philadelphia Eagles? 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. Craters so big that you could drive a semi through them. He also scored 35 touchdowns on the ground in that span. Arizona Cardinals: Kelvin Beachum, OT. 1. He also doesn't play in the shadow of a legend. 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. If you guessed both or neither one, youre wrong. Fred Warner gets a lot of attention at linebacker for the 49ers, but Dre Greenlaw flies under theradar as a young playmaker quickly on the rise. Butler is all but guaranteed to get lost in the shuffle. 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. Man Utd's double winning 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. Every NFL teams most underrated player of all time - FanSided WebFive players made their "Top 100" debuts -- David Montgomery, Jimmie Ward, CeeDee Lamb, Justin Tucker and Kyle Pitts -- in Episode 1 (Nos. According to Pro Football Reference, he was flagged for 14 accepted holding penalties in 187 career games, little more than one per season. He arrived in Buffalo at the same time Marv Levy was revolutionizing NFL offense with the help of Jim Kelly, Andre Reed and Thurman Thomas. And Jackson spent a generation as a pre- and postgame show staple, which puts him in a whole different category. Fletcher intercepted 23 passes and recorded 39 sacks as a do-it-all middle linebacker. When Da Bears bean counters refused to pay up two years later, Marshall was the odd man out again. Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images, Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images, Michael Zagaris/San Francisco 49ers/Getty Images. 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. No one else is even close. 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. 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. Anderson was not Payton, and the later-era Mike Ditka Bears could never approach the heights reached by the 1985 Bears. That may tick him off. The easiest way to be overlooked by history is to replace a legend just after a franchise has peaked. NFL Combine records: Complete list of top 40 times, bench press 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. Karl Mecklenburg. Teams: Washington Redskins, Denver Broncos, Super Bowl championships: Three (1991, 1997, 1998). The Bills were among the first teams to frequently operate without a huddle.