The least glamorous position on the field, a so-so team, a franchise moveWisniewski pulled three lemons on the recognition slot machine. Bottom line: Never mind guys such as Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson. WebKen Anderson is easily the most underrated quarterback of all time. Appreciate him for being that. Deebo Samuel broke the game open for San Francisco with his 74-yard 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. In his prime, Wright was often mentioned in the same breath as Hall of Famers Mel Blount and Mike Haynes. They would rank first in the NFL in yardage four other times while Evans was a starter. 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. He once threw three touchdowns in a shutout victory in a title game. Defensive Player of the Year awards? Is Jerry Rice not the greatest wide receiver in history because he played alongside Joe Montana and Steve Young? No matter. One of the big Pro Bowl misses from 2015 is the player I think is the NFL 's Most Underrated. Craters so big that you could drive a semi through them. On a walk-through between center and left guard, naturally. Rivers had neither, but he possessed just about everything else. Butler's defensive accomplishments might have brought him to the cusp of immortality, but don't underestimate the power of that Lambeau Leap. WebDeAngelo Hall was quietly one of the best defensive backs of the 2000s. 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. That made Hull one of the first centers to make line adjustments on the fly. Don Hutson played multiple positions during his time, including defense and on special teams. 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. Evans is still playing at a high level; the Packers hope that he can do for Aaron Rodgers what he did for Brees. Mason's 95-catch, 1,200-yard seasons translate to 115-catch monsters in more pass-oriented schemes. But McCree did fumble. 4. 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. Jacksonville's all-time leading receiver is now beginning what he calls the "second chapter in his life." Poor Louis Wright has a hard time even making the Broncos' overcrowded All-Snub Team. Derrick Mason recorded four 1,000-yard seasons for Jeff Fisher teams and four more for the Baltimore Ravens. Ohhh-kaaaaay, one of the Hasselbecks then? Other than Steve Largent and Kurt Warner, Pro Bowlers were harder to find in the Seahawks offense than a haystack in the Space Needle. I still don't know that people gave me my due respect for my production. The 2023 wide receiver class is one of the worst in recent memory, but there are some solid options on Day 2 for teams searching for complementary players. Tomlinson is fifth all-time in rushing yards, and he is third all-time in regular season touchdowns scored for all players and not just for running backs. Both players were Pro Bowlers the previous year. 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. He lacked the straight-line speed to be a game-breaker. Maybe he wasn't the best defender on the field for any one play, but he stayed on that field for an entire generation. If the quarterback got rid of the ball before getting crushed, it was up to Allen to make a play. 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". 3. It takes years of playing the wrong position for the wrong team in the wrong league at the wrong time. It is easy to understand why he would come up when the topic is being addressed, but that he is not respected as one of the best to play the position is difficult to understand. Maybe not, seeing as Nalen has not had much success. Anchoring defenses with catchy names like the "Orange Crush?" Teams: Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals. Young was a devastating interior pass-rusher who recorded 30 sacks in the three-year span from 1998 through 2000. Anderson became a footnote to the Ditka era, but fans who saw him play know he was far more than that. 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. "It pissed me off," Fletcher replied. The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. Young checks in at No. McDole played 251 professional games as a defensive lineman, a remarkable feat in any era that should not be forgotten. Bottom line: All Ken Norton could do was take down ballcarriers and collect Super Bowl rings. Roberston is the guy getting head-butted in the sternum and knocked backward by Campbell before the running back's jersey gets torn off. WebThe 2023 wide receiver class is one of the worst in recent memory, but there are some solid options on Day 2 for teams searching for complementary players. Player: Emmitt Smith. 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. One of the best players in the league during the 1980s, Monk is too often unappreciated in lists of all-time great wide receivers. Those who like to shout "first-ballot Hall of Famer" about Rivers do not know how the Hall of Fame works. Players like McDole are what all-time underrated lists exist for. One look at the logjam forming outside the entrance to Canton tells you Wisniewski isn't moving up the ladder anytime soon. Robinson was one of those players. 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. Kenn was one of the leaders of the NFL Players Association during the era of replacement players and court battles over free agency. These ideas that Marvin Harrison cannot be considered to be one of the greatest wide receivers in the history of the NFL all because he played with Peyton Manning need to be put to bed forever. He is now stuck in a rebuilding cycle that may take a few years. The guy should demand a recount, I tell ya. Guy deserved to be inducted, no question about it, but the day passed long ago for Sean Landeta to receive his invite to Canton. Bottom line: The Greatest Show On Turf boasted so much star power you couldnt tell the other Rams without a program. C'mon, who doesn't love Darren Sproles and Mike Tolbert? He helped the Packers win a Super Bowl. He finally won a Super Bowl ring as a backup for the Buccaneers. It was a motivating factor for a number of years in my career. Young was also a much better rusher who could find the end zone via his arm or by using his legs. So LeRoy Butler, innovator of the Lambeau Leap, is excluded from his own statue. Start with Adam Timmerman, who won Super Bowl rings with the Packers and Rams three years apart. The Rams eventually acquired Jim Everett and opened up their offense, transforming Ellard into one of the NFL's most dangerous deep threats. This list begins with a quarterback who is preparing to play in the 2015 NFL regular season. His .588 win percentage ranks second to Wilson in team history. Maybe Wright wasn't a Blount-level legend, but he deserves better than to be the forgotten man among the Broncos' forgotten men. Rivers lacks several quarterback prerequisites for enshrinement: playoff glory, all-time records and, most importantly, momentum from a regional fanbase and media. And few were better at making opposing quarterbacks pay for mistakes. 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. 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. Dunn finished his career with 15,655 all-purpose yards, 25th in league history, one of the best players never to be a champion. He is Baltimore Ravens nose tackle Brandon Williams. Ryan made three Pro Bowls, but All-Pro status was blocked by a couple of guys named Johnny Unitas and Bart Starr. 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. Related:Most Overrated NFL Players of All Time. Even pesky third-down backs and gritty fullbacks may seem underrated until you realize how many of them become local heroes. An undrafted quarterback out of the late Milton College (Wisconsin), Krieg got them to the postseason four times and the AFC championship game once. Mason had seven seasons of at least 70 pass receptions, 1,000 yards and five touchdowns. Teams: Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots, Bottom line: Fred Taylor once tweeted, "I earned respect on the field. And they really deserve more love. 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. He rose to Pro Bowl status playing left tackle for a single-back, Joe Gibbs-style 1980s offense. 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. Perhaps Fitzgerald would get more love from the public if he mouthed off as do many diva wide receivers in the NFL. Is it at all possible that any of these legends of the game could possibly also be some of the most underrated players in NFL history? 1. But don't write him off as some 1960s product of the system. 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. But this list is all about giving overlooked players their due respect. For the second installment in underappreciated NFL players, we have the running backs. More than anything, though, Rote was a leader and winner. He's the Rams' all-time leading rusher with almost 3,000 more yards for the franchise than Marshall Faulk or Eric Dickerson. Perhaps Hull would be in the Hall of Fame if the Bills had won even one Super Bowl. Hes also among a select few to be a four-time Super Bowl champion. There, he led a relentless Redskins pass rush in their Super Bowl XXVI ambush. As much as there are people who would say that Cunningham remains an underrated quarterback, there are also some out there who would say that people have oversold how great he was during his career. At its core, PFF is a player evaluation system play-by-play grading of every player in the NFL and access to some of the same stats, grades and info that all 32 NFL Player A passed for 27,928 yards and 194 touchdowns and ran for four touchdowns with mostly very good teams and one great one. Mike Kenn began his career playing left tackle for a lumbering 1970s power-running offense. He then became a staple of trivia questions and All-Time Worst Trades listicles, as the Lawrence Welk trade overshadowed an even more impressive moment in Hadl's transaction history. Both of those seasons came, ironically enough, after Allen and Buddy were separated. One of those receivers is Flowers, who totaled over 1,100 yards and 12 touchdowns in 12 games this season for Boston College. His 65 interceptions are fifth most in NFL history. Teams: Los Angeles Rams, Washington Redskins. It didnt help that he had ordinary quarterbacks named Tony Eason and Steve Grogan to throw him the ball. 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. Many of those catches occurred down the field, with Anderson serving as a de facto possession receiver. 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. Ryan was Jim Brown's quarterback and then Leroy Kelly's quarterback. He had to blanket a wide receiver in man coverage with no safety help on every play. And collect Super Bowl rings those catches occurred down the field, a remarkable feat in any that! 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