20 most underrated football players of all time

But Wright never posted massive interception totals, and his teams ended up on the receiving end of a pair of Super Bowl beatings. Butler's defensive accomplishments might have brought him to the cusp of immortality, but don't underestimate the power of that Lambeau Leap. The only lineman to start all four of those games was a workout warrior and routinely bench-pressed 550 pounds in his prime. 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. 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. Web#shortsucl#bayernmunich #bayern #barcelona#football#footballedit#footballedits#footballshirts#soccer#socceredit#socceredits#soccershorts 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. While Graham's sack numbers have never hit double digits, he remains a complete player and Super Bowl champion. Not bad for a guy who might as well have played in a straight jacket for 14 seasons. He played center, as well, before his career was over. In his most prolific early season, he caught 54 passes for 811 yards and five touchdowns. 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. Get this: Ten of those seasons were spent with either the Vince Lombardi Packers or Don Shula Dolphins. Allen has much in common with many others on this underrated list. 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. Not one of the Jim Harbaugh-era guys. Most underrated NFL players on all He played 256 career regular-season games, never missing a start due to injury. 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. But few cornerbacks spent more of their careers in the crosshairs than Allen. Saleh has compared Franklin-Myers to Arik Armstead, whom he coached in SF while registering 10 sacks in 2019. All advice, including picks and predictions, is based on individual commentators opinions and not that of Minute Media or its related brands. 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. 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. Teams: Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Houston Texans. 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 "Hate to say it, but I do believe I should be there (in Canton)," Marshall once said. 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. That's its own kind of recognition. Coaches rave about his work off the field and his dedication to improving his craft. 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. Top 20 Most Underrated NFL Players of All Time | TheRichest Much of the Saints' offensive success in Evans' prime years is rightfully credited to Brees. Also, the field was often a block of ice. Ron McDole falls into that final category. He played for teams that were more interesting than outstanding, from the Ryan and Rich Kotite-era Eagles to the Jim Mora and Mike Ditka Saints to Jon Gruden's Raiders. Peppers will have to play three more seasons to catch Marshall, and Peppers' starts are non-consecutive. He ran a Sonny Jurgensen pass back 59 yards in the fourth quarter to seal a Rams playoff win over the Redskins in 1974. He also scored 35 touchdowns on the ground in that span. He became an All-Pro playing blindside protector in an early 1990s run-'n'-shoot offense. A dominant presence as a run blocker, Moton uses his athleticism to get to the next level of the defense in a hurry. If Marlon McCree hadn't fumbled that interception in the playoffs after the 2006 season, everything might have been different. Hence, the Campbell video. The Most Underrated Spanish Player Of All Time? - YouTube Mills followed Mora to New Orleans and led the Dome Patrol linebacking corps, which brought the Saints franchise its first playoff appearances. 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. The most underrated player on all 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. Ryan was Jim Brown's quarterback and then Leroy Kelly's quarterback. While most Giants fans remember Meggett, he is still one of the most underrated players of all time. Bottom line: After eight seasons in Buffalo, where he had been a mainstay with the best defense in AFL history, Ron McDole took his two-bar helmet to Washington. Ohhh-kaaaaay, one of the Hasselbecks then? Once an arbitrary number of players from a historic team get enshrined, the committee moves on in search of underappreciated players from other franchises. The Jaguars, meanwhile, slowly descended to their current status as the NFL's punching bag. 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. Its hard to think of a player more dominant and less talked about over a long period of time than Chandler Jones. The best we can offer is a little bit of credit where a lot is due. Pro Bowl? His stardom was spread among three teams, robbing him of local hero status (or Hall of Fame momentum) in any one city. It's hard for a running back to be underrated. Taylor Moton has quietly emerged as a dominant presence at right tackle for the Panthers. 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. 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. There are a ton of names in the conversation for best offensive linemen of all time, but Dierdorf 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. Not Fred Dean. Frank Ryan led the NFL in passing touchdowns twice. As good as Ellard was at the time, he almost was never mentioned in debates about the best at his position. Numbers better than majority of RBs in history. 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. 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. Anderson was not Payton, and the later-era Mike Ditka Bears could never approach the heights reached by the 1985 Bears. McDole was known as "The Dancing Bear" because of his nimble feet, one of the coolest nicknames ever. Mike Kenn began his career playing left tackle for a lumbering 1970s power-running offense. The AFL was an eight- to 10-team league, so All-Pro selections were easier to come by. No modern coach suppressed passing offenses quite like Fisher, and no team produces offensive stats that look like they come from the early 1930s quite like the Ravens. 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. But Brown was a unique and underappreciated player for over a decade on a team that nearly revolutionized the way football is played. Here on the All-Time Underrated List, it counts for a lot. Actually, theres a simple explanation. top 20 The Bills were among the first teams to frequently operate without a huddle. Robertson was one of the NFL's fastest linebackers in the 1970s. In 10 of the 12 seasons in which he started at least half their games, the Seahawks prevailed more times than not. "Because when the ball was thrown, I knew I had better ball skills and would go up and get it.". No one should expect to make money from the picks and predictions discussed on this website. Full name: Jordi Alba Ramos Date of birth: March 21, 1989 Age: 33 years old (as of 2023) Place of birth: L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain Height: 1.70 m Current team: Not enough credit is given to Waller who lacks the Shanahan offense or elite QB to help take his game to the next level. 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. His career was cut short by injuries suffered in the first of those three Pro Bowls. 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. Most Underrated NFL Players Of All Time - The Onion The start to his career is Hall of Fame worthy and includes a Super Bowl championship while with the New England Patriots. Make no mistake about it, Eric Bieniemys exodus from Kansas City to Washington is only one move on the chess board By the time the 49ers are great again, Bowman may be in his early 30s or on another team. 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. His 42-yarder in the 1990 NFC championship game rates as one of the greatest clutch kicks in league history. 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. Perhaps Hull would be in the Hall of Fame if the Bills had won even one Super Bowl. The admission probably slams the door of the Hall of Fame on Brown forever. Beachum has lined up at both left and right tackle but displayed most underrated player The Colts accused Ryan of running up the score in the 27-0 championship rout of 1964. The Hall of Fame has turned up its nose on all of them. But what peak years they were: 14- and 13-win seasons, annual playoff appearances, routine 4,000-yard, 30-touchdown seasons. most underrated players in football at 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. WebMost Underrated NFL Players of All Time These men did so much but received so little credit in return. Jones played for the Cowboys from 1974-78 and 1980-89. McDole's Bills defenses held opponents to fewer than 3.1 yards per carry across three consecutive seasons. Randy Gradishar. The Over-the-Hill Gang fielded one of the most ferocious pass rushes of its era, notching 53 sacks in 1973. Mike Williams is an elite deep threat at wide receiver and has maintained an average YPC of over 15 every year since 2018. St. 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. Tom Jackson. 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. Teams: New England Patriots, Indianapolis Colts, Pro Bowl appearances: Four (1979, 1980, 1986, 1987). Let's hope the fame doesn't go to his head. Both players were Pro Bowlers the previous year. He had one sack in four games, all Rams victories. Rivers' excellence, longevity and ability to barely dodge immortality make him the John Hadl of his era. most underrated nfl players 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. Jackson probably helped you win a fantasy title or two, but he would be remembered for so much more if he wasn't always on the wrong team at the wrong time. And almost nobody remembers that, when Edwards caught the ball, he knew what to do it. 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. And no Hall of Famers allowed. Moton has also committed just 10 penalties in over 50 career starts, an average of less than one penalty every five games. NFL Nostalgia: Ranking the Most Underrated Players in NFL History Tom Jackson. Jones is a three-time Pro Bowler and two-time All-Pro selection. The statue portrays jubilant Packers fans in tundra-weather gear appearing to cradle a player who just pounced into the stands. He headed to Washington and moved from the weak to strong side. And because versatility is his calling card, he'll never produce gaudy sack totals or climb any all-time leaderboards. But here's the thing: Gradishar, Mecklenberg and Atwater are famous for being snubbed. Teams: Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots, Bottom line: Fred Taylor once tweeted, "I earned respect on the field. Graham has only missed one game since 2012 prior to 2021, and similar to Hughes is a winning culture type of player. Perhaps it's time we look back on how much of an impact he and his Jaguars had on the NFL two decades ago. 2022 NFL Mock Draft: Jacksonville Jaguars overtake Detroit for No. Quarterback is the most important position in organized football and maybe in all of sports, so it should be no surprise that men who play QB dominate the top spots of this list. Oh, and Norton scored the final touchdown of the game on a 9-yard fumble return. The easiest way to be overlooked by history is to replace a legend just after a franchise has peaked. Player A was a one-time Most Valuable Player who took part in four Pro Bowl games. 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. And none of them produce the numbers he generated in less hospitable systems. In his prime, Wright was often mentioned in the same breath as Hall of Famers Mel Blount and Mike Haynes. Schlereth started in three Super Bowls with the Redskins and Broncos, all of them victories. But McCree did fumble. Running backs suffer none of the "didn't win the big game" biases that color our perception of quarterbacks. 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. 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. That may be unfair to players like Robinson, Jerry Kramer and L.C. 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? Even unspectacular ones manage to rack up a few 1,000-yard seasons and get drafted early in fantasy leagues. Put him on the Tom Brady-led Patriots, and Mason might have invented a new branch of mathematics. His teams averaged 392.0 yards and 34.0 points in those games. Let's take a look at the the five most underrated footballers of all time. A Super Bowl ring and two AFL championships. They were the Yale football of the NFL, their glory years moldering in history books. McDole played 251 professional games as a defensive lineman, a remarkable feat in any era that should not be forgotten. 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. Angel Di Maria. Is Jalen Hurts the Future of the Philadelphia Eagles? But don't write him off as some 1960s product of the system. He covered receivers (38 career interceptions). Teams kept doing something special to get their hands on Hadl. But he didn't play for the legendary 49ers teams. Derrick Mason recorded four 1,000-yard seasons for Jeff Fisher teams and four more for the Baltimore Ravens. How he slipped through the cracks for 13 years remains one of the unsolved mysteries in pro football. New England Patriots wide receiver Stanley Morgan, right, battles for Maybe Rivers takes his place among the all-time greats. Now that's underrated. But none accomplished more than Ryan while receiving less acclaim. Theyre the core players who are overshadowed by more well-paid, high-profile teammates and just plain pathetic, shameless self-promoters. Williams' career-high in receptions is only 49, but with increased targets, he has already recorded 31 catches over the first five games in 2021. 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. Krieg was a career overachiever who survived 19 seasons on modest talent with defense-driven teams. According to Pro Football Reference, he was flagged for 14 accepted holding penalties in 187 career games, little more than one per season. "Even now I still get pissed off. He accounted for all his teams points in a 15-13 white-knuckler that wrecked the 49ers three-peat bid and sent the Giants to Super Bowl XXV. The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only. When London Fletcher retired after the 2014 season, Robert Klemko of The MMQBasked him if he was motivated by feeling underappreciated for most of his career. Yet somehow, some way, Kolb never received a Pro Bowl invitation. (Bonus point: Schlereth doesnt suck as a broadcaster on ESPN. A bit more well-known after recently signing a four-year contract extension, John Franklin Myers is an easy player to root for and deserving of the success he has achieved. THE MOST UNDERRATED PLAYERS OF ALL TIME - YouTube Success came early for Fletcher, recognition late. 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. But the former NFL Man of the Year award winner and two-time All-Pro should not have had to wait so long. But this list is all about giving overlooked players their due respect. Brown did one thing terribly wrong in 18 NFL seasons, but for his teams to win as often as they did, he must have done an awful lot more right. He was an All-Pro for the Orange Crush defenses of the 1970s, and then he stuck around to play for the 1986 Broncos Super Bowl team. 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. He intercepted 34 passes for the Eagles and 54 in his career. He isn't the dynamic threat thatTyreek Hill orDavante Adams are, but Allen is an elite route runner that consistently puts up elite production. Anderson was the first quarterback to successfully orchestrate the beta version of Bill Walsh's West Coast offense for multiple seasons. It takes bad timing and bad luck. It doesn't matter: If you are a Broncos defender, you might as well forget about a bust in Canton. Bottom line: One of the premier long-ball threats of any era, Stanley Morgan ranks 10th in yards per reception (19.2) and 39th in touchdown catches (72) on the all-time list. The fullback has become a non-factor in many of todays NFL offenses, but Juszczyk remains an integral part of how the San Francisco 49ers run their offense. Two names that are familiar to even casual football fans sit atop the mountaintop of underrated NFL players for the 2015 regular season. Despite his incredibly high waist seriously, check out his build Kelvin Beachum has been one of the most underrated tackles in the NFL.