As for being so underrated he's overrated, wellthat's extremely underrated, which justifies Anderson's ranking here. 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. New England Patriots wide receiver Stanley Morgan, right, battles for a ball with It's Bryant Young, whorecorded 89.5 sacks for the 49ers, 23 more than Haley. But his Hall of Fame candidacy has been stuck in semifinalist limbo. Anchoring defenses with catchy names like the "Orange Crush?" WebNFL Nostalgia: Ranking the Most Underrated Players in NFL History. "It was tough, but I was happy for those guys," Dunn told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Robertson was one of the NFL's fastest linebackers in the 1970s. WebDeAngelo Hall was quietly one of the best defensive backs of the 2000s. He once threw three touchdowns in a shutout victory in a title game. That theory is tested to the maximum every time that somebody attempts to suggest that Art Monk was a good but not great wide receiver. 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. But run defense was king in the era when McDole played, and his 16-year career is littered with big plays: 12 interceptions, 14 fumble recoveries, two touchdowns, three safeties and a pair of sacks in the 1966 AFL Championship Game. If you guessed both or neither one, youre wrong. Craters so big that you could drive a semi through them. By the time the 49ers are great again, Bowman may be in his early 30s or on another team. Butler has never even been a Hall of Fame semifinalist, and it's not going to happen for him soon. 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. The best we can offer is a little bit of credit where a lot is due. The rumors themselves were not surprising. Player B was a one-time MVP who played in two Pro Bowl games. Running backs suffer none of the "didn't win the big game" biases that color our perception of quarterbacks. 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. 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. Both players were Pro Bowlers the previous year. Butler is all but guaranteed to get lost in the shuffle. In an ideal world, every NFL playoff game is won or lost strictly by the players. 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. Massive sports fan and soccer nerd. Poor Louis Wright has a hard time even making the Broncos' overcrowded All-Snub Team. Greenwood, but there are dozens of other great old players clamoring for their chance who didn't enjoy the glory of playing for a "team of the decade.". Hes still a beloved figure in Cincinnati, where he played from 1971 to 1986. 5. He had the speed to get to the edge and beat defenders down the sideline, the power to plow through tackles, the elusiveness to make things happen in the open field and receiving chops to rival contemporaries Roger Craig or Thurman Thomas. In Super Bowl IX, Edwards killed a drive and darn near Vikings intended receiver John Gilliam on a hellacious hit near the goal line. 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. Randall Cunningham is one of the most polarizing individuals regarding these types of discussions. Lets hear some "un-der-ra-ted!" It was a motivating factor for a number of years in my career. If Anderson had failed, the 49ers may never have lured Walsh away from the Bengals staff. Robinson is a staple of Hall of Fame Snubs lists, and he certainly has his case. And Jackson spent a generation as a pre- and postgame show staple, which puts him in a whole different category. So whaddya say, fans? WebTop 10 most underrated NFL players: Justin Tucker, Keenan Allen deserve more recognition. Anderson's 1,000-yard seasons came in a primitive offense with a rudimentary passing game. Numbers better than majority of RBs in history. The Packers believed they were a veteran quarterback away from a playoff run in 1974, so head coach/GM Dan Devine acquired the 34-year-old Rams quarterback by surrendering a ransom of draft picks huge enough to cause even Ryan Pace to do a spit take: two first-rounders, two second-rounders and a third-rounder. 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. The easiest way to be overlooked by history is to replace a legend just after a franchise has peaked. That Greene remains one of the most underrated defensive players in history is a mystery when you look at the numbers. It made the Bills of the early 1990s the greatest team to never win a Super Bowl. Sometimes it's because they played next to even bigger stars and sometimes it's The Colts accused Ryan of running up the score in the 27-0 championship rout of 1964. He has started every game he has played in since 2014 (with four different franchises). Terry Porter. The Packers were a team with more history than identity when Butler arrived. If the soft-spoken scatback had been in the right place at the right time, he would have filled his one nagging void a Super Bowl title and the exposure that accompanied it. 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. But no highlight clip of that play can be found on the internet. 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. Yet he still led his team to the playoffs three more times. Bottom line: If an inquiring mind had asked "Which team will win the Super Bowl?" Checking in at 5-foot-9 (on a good day) and 232 pounds, Sam Mills was one of the best pound-for-pound linebackers of his day, and it remains a surprise that voters have not yet deemed him worthy of being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Freelancer for multiple websites. 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 Dont know about you, but I want Mason on my retro fantasy league team. Dont let the numbers fool you Morgan wasnt a one-trick racehorse. The system helped make Hall of Famers of Kelly, Reed and Thomas. This list begins with a quarterback who is preparing to play in the 2015 NFL regular season. The trade went how you might expect a lopsided midseason deal for an aging quarterback to go. Even so, Smith was pretty much a well-kept secret outside Pittsburgh despite meeting or approaching Pro Bowl standards for almost a decade. No, what youll see are lots of gaping holes the size of Boulder. Seth Joyner is one of those athletes who is widely respected by fans of the team that he played for but who is also not always mentioned as being an underrated player. 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. Reed was an offensive weapon that you hated to see going up against your favorite team because you knew that he was potentially a moment away from breaking for a game-changing play. Teams: Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals. Steve Wisniewski played guard on a Raiders team that moved in the middle of his career and was just good enough to remind you it was not in the same class as the great Raiders teams that preceded it. But the run-'n'-shoot took away more than it provided, and the early 1990s Lions kept getting obliterated by better defenses in the playoffs. One of the greatest defenders of his era reduced to stuntman status in Campbell's action movieall it takes is a moment to make a player underrated forever. Lambeau Field was an icy outpost; the Packers still played a handful of home games in Milwaukee back then. Karl Mecklenburg. chants for the best players who didnt get their just dues over the years. Do people not recognize Rob Gronkowski as a great tight end just because he has had Tom Brady as his quarterback? His .588 win percentage ranks second to Wilson in team history. While you may not put him in your top-tier of all-time great running backs, Anderson deserves more than a mention for a spot in the next tier of that imaginary list. 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. 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. Any defensive player breaking into the NFL in 2015 would love to be mentioned alongside such names when his career came to an end. 3. Harrison's numbers should speak for themselves, and those who would say otherwise are either trying to make a point or are simply ignoring how great Harrison was during his career. Robertson is so poorly remembered that it was hard to find a decent photo of him in our archives. Success came early for Fletcher, recognition late. 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. WebKen Anderson is easily the most underrated quarterback of all time. He's not the kind of player a wise organization sheds to cut expenses. You mean future Hall of Fame tackle Orlando Pace didnt block four guys all by himself? Guy deserved to be inducted, no question about it, but the day passed long ago for Sean Landeta to receive his invite to Canton. No matter. There's underrated, underappreciated and overlooked. His 65 interceptions are fifth most in NFL history. Teams: Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Houston Texans. Its easy to forget the Seahawks had some pretty good teams way back when, even a few playoff ones. If Marlon McCree hadn't fumbled that interception in the playoffs after the 2006 season, everything might have been different. Brown is now best known as a television personality. He intercepted 34 passes for the Eagles and 54 in his career. He is, however, most remembered, for being a wide receiver who was decades ahead of his time. 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. 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. Once an arbitrary number of players from a historic team get enshrined, the committee moves on in search of underappreciated players from other franchises. These are the most unsung NFL quarterbacks of all time. 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. But outside of Wisconsin, his accomplishments were mostly forgotten shortly after his career ended in 2001. One of the best players in the league during the 1980s, Monk is too often unappreciated in lists of all-time great wide receivers. 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. Names such as Jim Brown, Walter Payton, Barry Sanders and Eric Dickerson probably immediately come to mind. Hes the only quarterback with AFL and NFL titles on his resume and he darn near pulled it off in the Canadian Football League as well. 11) That makes sense: Both started their careers late, played with workhorse running backs, won a championship and had their careers curtailed by vicious hits. The linebacker ranks 17th in career solo tackles (1,130) and is the only player to be part of three consecutive Super Bowl champions. Hmmm. At 5-foot-10, 190 pounds, he didnt wow anyone physically. How he slipped through the cracks for 13 years remains one of the unsolved mysteries in pro football. Most seasons with 30 made field goals (7). "Because when the ball was thrown, I knew I had better ball skills and would go up and get it.". 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. 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. But few cornerbacks spent more of their careers in the crosshairs than Allen. 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. What Mason did have was a keen attention to detail and fanatical drive to succeed. McDole was known as "The Dancing Bear" because of his nimble feet, one of the coolest nicknames ever. There have been many better quarterbacks than Ryan in NFL history. Now, underrated can mean a couple of things. 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. That feeling never really went away.". 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. In his prime, Wright was often mentioned in the same breath as Hall of Famers Mel Blount and Mike Haynes. He had to blanket a wide receiver in man coverage with no safety help on every play. Krieg was a career overachiever who survived 19 seasons on modest talent with defense-driven teams. In 10 of the 12 seasons in which he started at least half their games, the Seahawks prevailed more times than not. But Anderson was an extraordinary talent. 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. But Hadl had to do something to make the Packers think he was worth two armfuls of draft picks. But the former NFL Man of the Year award winner and two-time All-Pro should not have had to wait so long. Teams: Chicago Bears, Washington Redskins, Houston Oilers, Arizona Cardinals, New York Jets, Pro Bowl appearances: Three (1986, 1987, 1992), Super Bowl championships: Two (1985, 1991). Here, we give you every NFL teams most underrated player. 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. 10. Anderson also won MVP honors the same year he won Comeback Player of the Year. As a 31-year-old, no less. 1. Thats been the real surprise. And no Hall of Famers allowed. Its a frigging joke that Taylor isnt in the Hall of Fame discussion. Butler's defensive accomplishments might have brought him to the cusp of immortality, but don't underestimate the power of that Lambeau Leap. In his most prolific early season, he caught 54 passes for 811 yards and five touchdowns. Jacksonville's all-time leading receiver is now beginning what he calls the "second chapter in his life." Bottom line: The 1970s Steelers won four Super Bowls two with a power run game, two with a potent pass attack and who better than Jon Kolb to do the heavy lifting? 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