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. Robinson is a staple of Hall of Fame Snubs lists, and he certainly has his case. Dont let the numbers fool you Morgan wasnt a one-trick racehorse. 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. The system helped make Hall of Famers of Kelly, Reed and Thomas. He had 44 career sacks and as many as eight in a season on two occasions. The Bucs hired head coach Jon Gruden and won Super Bowl XXXVII the next season. 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. But McCree did fumble. That may be unfair to players like Robinson, Jerry Kramer and L.C. And you're never going to guess who's No. Yes, Marshall amassed that sack total by playing foreverhe started270 games (plus 19 playoff starts) from 1961 through 1979. That makes sense: Both started their careers late, played with workhorse running backs, won a championship and had their careers curtailed by vicious hits. Cleveland sports will be the death of him. Since Week 13, when he became the starter due to Jimmy Garoppolos broken foot, Purdy has the NFLs best passer rating (112.0), completing 68.3% of his passes for 8.1 yards per attempt, 13 touchdown passes, and just three interceptions. Bottom line: The Greatest Show On Turf boasted so much star power you couldnt tell the other Rams without a program. Other than Steve Largent and Kurt Warner, Pro Bowlers were harder to find in the Seahawks offense than a haystack in the Space Needle. After missing most of two years with injury, he returned in 1972 and led the NFL in TDs, yards, yards per attempt, and was an all-pro. Pro Bowl? And then there is Kent Hull, the first center to achieve greatness in a no-huddle offense. And to think, the guy never played in a Pro Bowl game. 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. Randy Gradishar. Defensive Player of the Year awards? Poor Louis Wright has a hard time even making the Broncos' overcrowded All-Snub Team. WebMay 12, 2022. He won 65 percent of his NFL starts. It takes more than mere greatness to be considered one of the most underrated players in pro football history. These men did so much but received so little credit in return. His 42-yarder in the 1990 NFC championship game rates as one of the greatest clutch kicks in league history. And then there is plain old forgotten. The difference between the great and the all-time great is often a matter of timing and luck. 1. In an ideal world, every NFL playoff game is won or lost strictly by the players. WebAll-Time Most Underrated NFL Players by Position. Outside of the incredible stats that Monk posted during his Hall-of-Fame career, is has to be noted Monk also never had the pleasure of playing with quarterbacks such as Joe Montana, Dan Marino or John Elway. He's rarely mentioned as an all-time great. David Garrard. Krause is undeniably one of the best defensive players to ever play pro football, but his name nevertheless rarely pops up whenever such discussions arise among fans and even among analysts. If Morgan had played in a pass-happy offense with a Pro Bowl quarterback and hands-off rules, you would find him in Canton right now. Maybe Wright wasn't a Blount-level legend, but he deserves better than to be the forgotten man among the Broncos' forgotten men. By being overshadowed by Brown, achieving his greatest success just before the dawn of the Super Bowl era and getting stuck behind the Tom Brady and Peyton Manning of your grandfather's generation, Ryan earned the title of the NFL's All-Time Most Underrated Player. Teams: Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Pro Bowl appearances: Three (1993, 1995, 1997), Super Bowl championships: Three (1992, 1993, 1994). Why is it that history has seemingly forgotten about Kevin Greene? 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". There's a statue outside of Lambeau Field commemorating the Lambeau Leap, perhaps the most recognizable and beloved (except to Packers opponents) end-zone celebration in the NFL. WebNFL Nostalgia: Ranking the Most Underrated Players in NFL History. Smith wasnt a no-show on third-and-long, either. But three of his best seasons are not listed in the encyclopedias. ", Teams: St. Louis Cardinals, Houston Oilers, Buffalo Bills, Washington Redskins, Pro Bowl appearances (AFL All-Star Game): Two (1965, 1967). Young played for the teams that slowly slid from George Seifert to Steve Mariucci to oblivion. Butler is all but guaranteed to get lost in the shuffle. The only lineman to start all four of those games was a workout warrior and routinely bench-pressed 550 pounds in his prime. The easiest way to be overlooked by history is to replace a legend just after a franchise has peaked. WebIts weird to say that a player as celebrated as Jonathan Taylor could be one of the most underrated college football players of all time. While that is a point worthy of being discussed, it cannot be ignored that Young had a higher completion percentage and a better passer rating than Montana. 44. It's Bryant Young, whorecorded 89.5 sacks for the 49ers, 23 more than Haley. Butler has never even been a Hall of Fame semifinalist, and it's not going to happen for him soon. 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. Appreciate him for being that. From a couple of fairly well-known quarterbacks to the linemen who make a quarterback's job easier, we argue these 32 players deserve more recognition. Web#shorts #viral #dunk #edit #fyp #nfl #sports #sportsedits Mason had seven seasons of at least 70 pass receptions, 1,000 yards and five touchdowns. Bottom line: The 49ers of the 1980s are remembered most for Joe Montana and Jerry Rice, coach Bill Walsh and the West Coast offense. Stafford is an underrated quarterback who has also been a pillar of stability outside of his second season and this past year. Norton made the key play of the game in the second period, when he stood up Buffalo Bills back Kenneth Davis mere inches from the goal line. It's not that Ellard, an Olympic-caliber triple-jumper with 4.4 speed, didn't know what he was doing. NaVorro Bowman trade rumors surfaced in early spring, only to be quickly squelched by new 49ers general manager John Lynch. That made Hull one of the first centers to make line adjustments on the fly. Ellard was an Antonio Brown-level talent in his prime, but his teams were in no hurry to get him the ball. Pro Football Reference rates him at near a Pro Bowl level well into his 30s. Hes also among a select few to be a four-time Super Bowl champion. WebDue to the emergence of other superstars like Allen Iverson, Vince Carter, LeBron James, and Tracy McGrady, many other solid players who had massive success in the decade have 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. His stardom was spread among three teams, robbing him of local hero status (or Hall of Fame momentum) in any one city. Bottom line: If an inquiring mind had asked "Which team will win the Super Bowl?" Hence, the Campbell video. McDole's Bills defenses held opponents to fewer than 3.1 yards per carry across three consecutive seasons. Bottom line: Never mind guys such as Michael Vick and Lamar Jackson. Fitzgerald has been a mainstay in lists of Top 100 players in the NFL for years. June 19, 2020 Koby83 Football, Michael Turner, NFL, Running Backs, Sports Underrated. Teams: Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Houston Texans. Dont know about you, but I want Mason on my retro fantasy league team. 3. Still, even his long resume undersells his He is now stuck in a rebuilding cycle that may take a few years. Allen has much in common with many others on this underrated list. Frank Ryan led the NFL in passing touchdowns twice. Maybe there is still an NFL team in San Diego. Try Dave Krieg. 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. In Jacksonville, Perhaps Fitzgerald would get more love from the public if he mouthed off as do many diva wide receivers in the NFL. If the quarterback got rid of the ball before getting crushed, it was up to Allen to make a play. In his prime, Wright was often mentioned in the same breath as Hall of Famers Mel Blount and Mike Haynes. 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. Modern centers don't get the credit they deserve. But no one remembers the Greatest Show on Turf for its defense, and Fletcher spent the prime of his career playing for mediocre Bills teams. If ever a geezer was meant to play with George Allens Over The Hill Gang, he was the one. 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. 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. Isiah Robertson, LB, Rams, Bills. Some of the most-talented individuals to ever play particular positions have, at some point or another, gone unappreciated by fans and even by supposed NFL experts. Bottom line: OK, kids, lets play Name That Hall of Famer. WebKen Anderson is easily the most underrated quarterback of all time. It takes bad timing and bad luck. The admission probably slams the door of the Hall of Fame on Brown forever. Who do you believe is the most underrated player that played at least one year from Super Bowl championships: Four (1966, 1967, 1972, 1973). 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. 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. 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. They were the Yale football of the NFL, their glory years moldering in history books. He led his team to an NFL championship. James Lofton is one of many cases of players being in the Hall of Fame and nevertheless being vastly underrated when compared with others who played the position. Both players were Pro Bowlers the previous year. Bottom line: Few remember Glen Edwards as the fearless strong safety with the Steelers first two Super Bowl teams. On this All-Underrated list, he is in very good company. 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. His .588 win percentage ranks second to Wilson in team history. 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. An undrafted quarterback out of the late Milton College (Wisconsin), Krieg got them to the postseason four times and the AFC championship game once. The NFL is now full of receivers like Mason, but few of them are as productive as he was for over a decade. But Hadl had to do something to make the Packers think he was worth two armfuls of draft picks. More than anything, though, Rote was a leader and winner. As the Chargers faded, Rivers kept them in the wild-card picture and became the franchise's only recognizable public figure. He was a participant in four Super Bowls and a member of two All-Pro teams. Member PFWA. Much of the Saints' offensive success in Evans' prime years is rightfully credited to Brees. 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. What Mason did have was a keen attention to detail and fanatical drive to succeed. 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. Robinson was one of those players. 10. It doesn't matter: If you are a Broncos defender, you might as well forget about a bust in Canton. Fletcher followed Gregg Williams from coaching stop to coaching stop, serving as the sometimes controversial, always effective defensive mastermind's field marshal. In his most prolific early season, he caught 54 passes for 811 yards and five touchdowns. Rookie QB Brock Purdy led the 49ers with his impressive stat line, completing 18 of 30 passing attempts for 332 yards and three touchdowns, along with four carries for 16 yards and a touchdown. Taylor rushed for 1,000-plus yards in seven seasons. He then led three fourth-quarter comebacks to bring them back to the playoffs in 1965. WebDeAngelo Hall was quietly one of the best defensive backs of the 2000s. He rose to Pro Bowl status playing left tackle for a single-back, Joe Gibbs-style 1980s offense. Rivers lacks several quarterback prerequisites for enshrinement: playoff glory, all-time records and, most importantly, momentum from a regional fanbase and media. Were talking about the most unsung, underappreciated players in NFL history here. Then again, the fourth-round draft pick had no choice. The Over-the-Hill Gang fielded one of the most ferocious pass rushes of its era, notching 53 sacks in 1973. ), Teams: Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers, Super Bowl championships: Two (1974, 1975). And none of them produce the numbers he generated in less hospitable systems. You know the type. The least glamorous position on the field, a so-so team, a franchise moveWisniewski pulled three lemons on the recognition slot machine. And because versatility is his calling card, he'll never produce gaudy sack totals or climb any all-time leaderboards. 2. When Da Bears bean counters refused to pay up two years later, Marshall was the odd man out again. 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. 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. Anchoring defenses with catchy names like the "Orange Crush?" Today, most people know Mark Schlereth mostly as an With Warfield hurt nearly all of that season, Ryan helped make a Pro Bowler out of receiver/punter Gary Collins. Mason was frequently his team's most valuable offensive player, but he and Steve McNair made their short pitch-and-catch passes look a little too easy. He has already waited too long for that deserved honor. Player A passed for 27,928 yards and 194 touchdowns and ran for four touchdowns with mostly very good teams and one great one. The rumors themselves were not surprising. 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. Men such as Joe Montana, Lawrence Taylor. 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. Maybe that victory gives them the psychological edge they need to beat the undefeated Patriots in their 2008 playoff rematch. Only kicker in NFL history to hit at least one FG In Jahri Evans' four All-Pro seasons (2009-12), the Saints ranked first, sixth, first and second in the NFL in total yards. Membership on various All-1960s teams. Not Fred Dean. 11) 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. Only a dozen players have more career interception return yards (961), and seven of them are in the Hall of Fame. There are some out there who would say that a player who has been inducted into the Hall of Fame cannot possibly be underrated. Player: Emmitt Smith. Dunn finished his career with 15,655 all-purpose yards, 25th in league history, one of the best players never to be a champion. Teammates Alan Page and Carl Ellar were held in higher regard. Bruce found the end zone over 90 times in regular season play during his career, and he is one of five players in the history of the NFL to go for over 15,000 total receiving yards. Incredibly, McDole started 97 of the next 98 games. 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. Any defensive player breaking into the NFL in 2015 would love to be mentioned alongside such names when his career came to an end. 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. Robertson was one of the NFL's fastest linebackers in the 1970s. Hadl played quarterback, halfback, defensive back and punter for the University of Kansas. 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. (Bonus point: Schlereth doesnt suck as a broadcaster on ESPN. He's also among the top 100 in games started (83rd), interception return yardage (89th) and interception return touchdowns (31st). Ryan was Jim Brown's quarterback and then Leroy Kelly's quarterback. Bowman doesn't get the recognition he's due, and he may have to get used to it. 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. Anderson was named to four Pro Bowl squads during his career, ad he led the Cincinnati Bengals to a Super Bowl appearance that did not go Cincinnati's way because of Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers. Peppers will have to play three more seasons to catch Marshall, and Peppers' starts are non-consecutive. There have been many better quarterbacks than Ryan in NFL history. 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. Mookie The Thief Blaylock made his mark on the defensive end, setting the pace for the steals race in 1996-97 and 1997-98, averaging 2.7 and 2.6, respectively. Andre Reed is an all-time great wide receiver who seemingly cannot escape lists of the most underrated football players in history. But he didn't play for the legendary 49ers teams. Lofton could stretch the field with his speed, and he also had some of the best hands of his time. Ellard moved on to Washington in 1994 and enjoyed a late-career renaissance, averaging 61 catches and 18.8 yards per reception over a three-year span in his mid-30s. McDole was known as "The Dancing Bear" because of his nimble feet, one of the coolest nicknames ever. Fleming was a reliable backup tight end/wide receiver who played with four Super Bowl-winners (and one NFL champion) in a dozen seasons. The unfunny joke that has been Isaac Bruce not being voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame is one that is going to end soon. He has over 12,000 career receiving yards to date, and Fitzgerald could retire with over 100 total regular season receiving touchdowns before all is said and done. One look at the logjam forming outside the entrance to Canton tells you Wisniewski isn't moving up the ladder anytime soon. Ken Anderson, QB, Bengals. Allen made a lot of plays. Who knows what the NFL might have looked like then? But outside of Wisconsin, his accomplishments were mostly forgotten shortly after his career ended in 2001. In Super Bowl IX, Edwards killed a drive and darn near Vikings intended receiver John Gilliam on a hellacious hit near the goal line. Guys who played in Jacksonville repeatedly have been crapped on in Pro Bowl and Hall of Fame votes, none more so than Taylor during and after his 11 seasons there. Freelancer for multiple websites. The Rams acquired him from the Chargers in 1973 in exchange for defensive end Coy Bacon. That he was part of The Greatest Show on Turf should not be a knock against him or a reason for keeping him out of the Hall of Fame. Henry Ellard spent the first five seasons of his NFL career returning punts and putting up humdrum receiving stats. 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? 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. Fifteen years ago, similar receivers were gimmicky undersized role players. Its a frigging joke that Taylor isnt in the Hall of Fame discussion.
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