Mason also caught 49 postseason passes and was one of the game's best return men for a few years. 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. Brown earned seven Pro Bowl berths and an All-Pro selection. Shaun Alexander's production plummeted when Hutch left Seattle in 2006. In Jahri Evans' four All-Pro seasons (2009-12), the Saints ranked first, sixth, first and second in the NFL in total yards. No current player is even close to notching 81 career picks, and that record may never be broken. 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. Any defensive player breaking into the NFL in 2015 would love to be mentioned alongside such names when his career came to an end. WebMost Underappreciated QBs of the 2000s. There are some out there who would say that a player who has been inducted into the Hall of Fame cannot possibly be underrated. Hes also among a select few to be a four-time Super Bowl champion. It made the Bills of the early 1990s the greatest team to never win a Super Bowl. 'Nuff said, right? Here on the All-Time Underrated List, it counts for a lot. In an era when 50 percent completion rates and 20-interception seasons were common for Pro Bowl quarterbacks, Anderson's 64.9 percent completion rate and quarterback ratings above 90 look like temporal anomalies. Brown is now best known as a television personality. 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. You know the type. Boomer Esiason was a fine player who remains seen on national television throughout the year, but it is Anderson who is, to this day, the greatest quarterback in the history of the Bengals. But outside of Wisconsin, his accomplishments were mostly forgotten shortly after his career ended in 2001. He was one of the first true slot receivers of 21st-century NFL offenses. Fitzgerald has played on some lackluster offenses. He intercepted 25 career regular-season passes and two more in the postseason. Not Fred Dean. Steve Atwater. Player B was a one-time MVP who played in two Pro Bowl games. WebKen Anderson is easily the most underrated quarterback of all time. 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? NaVorro Bowman trade rumors surfaced in early spring, only to be quickly squelched by new 49ers general manager John Lynch. There have been many better quarterbacks than Ryan in NFL history. The lack of respect that Larry Fitzgerald has received from supposed football experts throughout his career boggles the mind. 4,409 Rushing Attempts. Pro Bowl? Ryan needed surgery and was in constant pain for the rest of his career. So Kenn basically had three careers. In their two Super Bowl seasons that followed, Young was a virtual nonfactor in the matchup. In two Super Bowl trips, Bahr didnt miss a kick three field goals, six PATs. In an ideal world, every NFL playoff game is won or lost strictly by the players. Mills followed Mora to New Orleans and led the Dome Patrol linebacking corps, which brought the Saints franchise its first playoff appearances. But McCree did fumble. Nope, not Charles Haley. But his Hall of Fame candidacy has been stuck in semifinalist limbo. 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 feeling never really went away.". Young played for some great 49ers teams, including a Super Bowl-winning squad as a rookie in 1994. On this All-Underrated list, he is in very good company. Players like McDole are what all-time underrated lists exist for. He is, however, most remembered, for being a wide receiver who was decades ahead of his time. He recorded four consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons from 1988 through 1991, a rare feat at the time. He enjoyed one of the greatest receiving games in NFL history: 15 catches, 291 yards and three touchdowns against the historic 2000 Ravens defense. But Brown was a unique and underappreciated player for over a decade on a team that nearly revolutionized the way football is played. He intercepted 34 passes for the Eagles and 54 in his career. Since the NFL has turned Twenty years ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars were one of the marquee organizations in professional sports, and Jimmy Smith was one of their brightest stars. No matter. But Anderson was an extraordinary talent. WebWe're a media page that has been highlighting an underrated player from every team in the NFL. It didnt help that he had ordinary quarterbacks named Tony Eason and Steve Grogan to throw him the ball. Bottom line: Few remember Glen Edwards as the fearless strong safety with the Steelers first two Super Bowl teams. 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. Seven times, he surpassed 1,000 yards on pass receptions, most of them on slants and corner routes. After the Bills failed to score, he knocked quarterback Jim Kelly out of the game in the next series. An ever-growing backlog of outstanding safeties is queuing up outside Canton, as Troy Polamalu and Ed Reed will soon joinJohn Lynch and Brian Dawkins. Both of those seasons came, ironically enough, after Allen and Buddy were separated. Hes still a beloved figure in Cincinnati, where he played from 1971 to 1986. Former head coach Jim Mora has referred to Mills as the best player I ever coached. Along with being a talented defensive player, Mills was also respected for being one of the smartest defenders on the field during his career. The Lions drafted him as a running back. But there is no player; fans themselves get to "leap" into the statue for photo ops. Steven Jackson arrived in St. Louis just as the Greatest Show on Turf was deteriorating into the Most Miserable Slog in the Midwest. Incredibly, McDole started 97 of the next 98 games. Other than Steve Largent and Kurt Warner, Pro Bowlers were harder to find in the Seahawks offense than a haystack in the Space Needle. in the mid-1960s to early '70s, chances are "Whichever one has Marv Fleming" would have been a correct answer. Player A passed for 27,928 yards and 194 touchdowns and ran for four touchdowns with mostly very good teams and one great one. During his final collegiate season at UMass in 2018, second-round rookie Andy Isabella was PFFs highest-graded wide receiver in the entire FBS. 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. 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. "I wasnt the fastest guy, but I didnt mind having the defender at my hip," Ellard said per Yahoo Sports. He's not the kind of player a wise organization sheds to cut expenses. "Hate to say it, but I do believe I should be there (in Canton)," Marshall once said. 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. There are certain statistics that one would imagine would immediately pop into the mind of a football fan. In Jacksonville, 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. He returned eight interceptions for touchdowns, including four in 1993 and three during his age-35 season with the Raiders in 2000. For a few years, he was not only the best guard in the NFL, but the most important. Cunningham is widely regarded as one of the best running QBs in the history of the NFL, but his ability to make plays with his arm should not be ignored. Smith wasnt a no-show on third-and-long, either. He talked the talk and he walked the walk, and Reed should be recognized for being an all-time great receiver by all fans and journalists. That's a higher sack total than Dwight Freeney or Robert Mathis. "Even now I still get pissed off. 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. He played in the run-'n'-shoot offense, which means he was on an island against the NFL's best pass-rushers on every snap for a half-decadeno tight end flanking him, no blocking back behind him. He was arrested four times after his abrupt retirement. He found the end zone in three different decades. 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. 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. They were the Yale football of the NFL, their glory years moldering in history books. Butler's defensive accomplishments might have brought him to the cusp of immortality, but don't underestimate the power of that Lambeau Leap. Today, most people know Mark Schlereth mostly as an 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. The career active leader in games started by a defensive lineman is Julius Peppers with 227. 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. Its easy to forget the Seahawks had some pretty good teams way back when, even a few playoff ones. Perhaps Hull would be in the Hall of Fame if the Bills had won even one Super Bowl. So Anderson cranked out a few 1,000-yard seasons and played in some Pro Bowls, and that was that. The linebacker ranks 17th in career solo tackles (1,130) and is the only player to be part of three consecutive Super Bowl champions. With his career spread evenly across three teams and zero All-Pro selections (a consequence of playing in the same era as Ray Lewis and Brian Urlacher), Fletcher is a Hall of Fame long shot. The weekend opened with the San Francisco 49ers and the Seattle Seahawks. The latest in the sports world, emailed daily. Mills and Reggie White were the USFL's two greatest defenders ever. And then there is plain old forgotten. 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. 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. WebMost Underrated NFL Players of All Time These men did so much but received so little credit in return. But three of his best seasons are not listed in the encyclopedias. Most Underappreciated RBs of the 2000s. 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. It was rival 49ers tackle Bryant Young who the Rams were most concerned about before the 1999 season, when they signed Timmerman as a free agent. 30. 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. WebUnderrated 2000s players that don't get the respect they deserve today. He has been named to eight Pro Bowl squads. Fletcher followed Gregg Williams from coaching stop to coaching stop, serving as the sometimes controversial, always effective defensive mastermind's field marshal. Bottom line: In the Steelers' 3-4 scheme, defensive ends were akin to smaller, more agile tackles run-stoppers first, pass-rushers second. They would rank first in the NFL in yardage four other times while Evans was a starter. This includes a wide receiver that some younger fans may have never before heard of, and also multiple quarterbacks who are still playing in the NFL as of the posting of this piece. 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. ), Teams: Pittsburgh Steelers, San Diego Chargers, Super Bowl championships: Two (1974, 1975). Who knows what the NFL might have looked like then? Hull was not just a great lineman but a groundbreaking one. 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. 'S defensive accomplishments might have brought him to the cusp of immortality, but didnt! 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