most underrated nfl players 2000s

On this All-Underrated list, he is in very good company. He is also infamous for admitting on ESPN Radio that he once purposely let Packers defender Sean Jones sack Scott Mitchell so the struggling quarterback would get knocked out of a game. 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. The Bucs hired head coach Jon Gruden and won Super Bowl XXXVII the next season. Player B was a one-time MVP who played in two Pro Bowl games. Hall of Fame receiver Paul Warfield was on the receiving end of many of Ryan's touchdowns. Teams: Tennessee Titans, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets, Houston Texans. In Super Bowl IX, Edwards killed a drive and darn near Vikings intended receiver John Gilliam on a hellacious hit near the goal line. Why is it that history has seemingly forgotten about Kevin Greene? Sad to say, Morgan was woefully miscast in a run-first offense in a less pass-friendly time. Maybe Rivers takes his place among the all-time greats. Bottom line: Wilber Marshall was the most athletic and versatile linebacker with the legendary 1985 Bears defense he often replaced the celebrated Mike Singletary in pass situations. Teams: Seattle Seahawks, Kansas City Chiefs, Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears, Tennessee Oilers, Pro Bowl appearances: Three (1984, 1988, 1989). He intercepted 25 career regular-season passes and two more in the postseason. 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. Teams: Los Angeles Rams, Washington Redskins. He started for an offensive line that helped Barry Sanders win two of his four rushing titles. Super Bowl championships: Four (1966, 1967, 1972, 1973). The Lions drafted him as a running back. WebAll-Time Most Underrated NFL Players by Position. The Hall of Fame eluded Ellard for several reasons: comparisons to Rice, the Rams' move to St. Louis (it takes hometown writers and buzz to mount a campaign) and those five early seasons in a ground-and-pound offense. July 24, 2020July 24, 2020 Koby83 Carson Palmer, Football, Matt Schaub, NFL, Quarterbacks Underrated. 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. Yet he still led his team to the playoffs three more times. WebTop 10 most underrated NFL players: Justin Tucker, Keenan Allen deserve more recognition. Kenn is one of the NFL's all-time great players and leaders, and his impact ranges far beyond his playing career. Super Bowl championships: Two (2005, 2008). And then there is plain old forgotten. Teams: Green Bay Packers, Detroit Lions, San Diego Chargers, Experience: 13 years (1950-59, 1963-64, 1966), AFL All-Star Game appearances: One (1963). Only a dozen players have more career interception return yards (961), and seven of them are in the Hall of Fame. 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. Frank Ryan led the NFL in passing touchdowns twice. Through the 2018 season, Vinatieri checked in at 81 (56 of 69) and 99 (70 of 71), respectively. Anderson also won MVP honors the same year he won Comeback Player of the Year. When the Rams finally earned a Super Bowl berth, Robertson was in Buffalo, playing for another playoff also-ran. WebNFL Nostalgia: Ranking the Most Underrated Players in NFL History. 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. Here, we give you every NFL teams most underrated player. Two 10-interception seasons, with 57 career interceptions. It's better to be remembered for one of the most painful moments in your career than to not be remembered at all. Thats been the real surprise. How he slipped through the cracks for 13 years remains one of the unsolved mysteries in pro football. WebMost Underrated NFL Players of All Time These men did so much but received so little credit in return. 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. Modern centers don't get the credit they deserve. Try Dave Krieg. A Colts defender delivered some payback in the all-star game. Not Fred Dean. The 49ers are installing a new system and reshaping their roster. Bottom line: The Greatest Show On Turf boasted so much star power you couldnt tell the other Rams without a program. Finally, at last, the cornerback was selected to play in his first Pro Bowl game as some kind of lifetime achievement award. Mason's 95-catch, 1,200-yard seasons translate to 115-catch monsters in more pass-oriented schemes. 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. 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. He won 65 percent of his NFL starts. And to think, the guy never played in a Pro Bowl game. It made the Bills of the early 1990s the greatest team to never win a Super Bowl. And none of them produce the numbers he generated in less hospitable systems. 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. Mike Kenn began his career playing left tackle for a lumbering 1970s power-running offense. One of those receivers is Guy deserved to be inducted, no question about it, but the day passed long ago for Sean Landeta to receive his invite to Canton. 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. Along with the legendary Johnny Unitas, Rote probably did more to change the quarterback position than anyone in the pre-merger era even if so few know it. "Even now I still get pissed off. Six All-Pro selections. One has to wonder if those QBs will ever receive the respect they truly deserve. Allen is trailing by 26 sacks as of the start of the 2015 regular season. 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? Stafford is an underrated quarterback who has also been a pillar of stability outside of his second season and this past year. Ellard was an Antonio Brown-level talent in his prime, but his teams were in no hurry to get him the ball. Maybe there is still an NFL team in San Diego. Its a frigging joke that Taylor isnt in the Hall of Fame discussion. Ken Griffey Jr.? Super Bowl championships: 1974, 1975, 1978, 1979. 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. That may be unfair to players like Robinson, Jerry Kramer and L.C. Ryan made three Pro Bowls, but All-Pro status was blocked by a couple of guys named Johnny Unitas and Bart Starr. 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. Turned out he was skilled and driven enough to be a champion. Derrick Mason recorded four 1,000-yard seasons for Jeff Fisher teams and four more for the Baltimore Ravens. But he didn't play for the legendary 49ers teams. in the mid-1960s to early '70s, chances are "Whichever one has Marv Fleming" would have been a correct answer. Despite his incredibly high waist seriously, check out his build Kelvin Beachum has been one of the most underrated tackles in the NFL. Victory propelled Montana to superstardom, while defeat left the 32-year old Anderson to play out the string as a high-percentage passer for a rapidly disintegrating franchise. But a double whammyplaying center and playing for the Broncoshas kept him miles from Hall of Fame consideration. It takes years of playing the wrong position for the wrong team in the wrong league at the wrong time. As for being so underrated he's overrated, wellthat's extremely underrated, which justifies Anderson's ranking here. Most Underappreciated RBs of the 2000s. Only missed 14 games in 10 seasons and 2 of them were meaningless rest games before the playoffs/ Last game of the season. Seven times, he surpassed 1,000 yards on pass receptions, most of them on slants and corner routes. Anderson is a member of the 10,000 rushing yards club. Maybe that victory gives them the psychological edge they need to beat the undefeated Patriots in their 2008 playoff rematch. By the time the 49ers are great again, Bowman may be in his early 30s or on another team. The Packers were a team with more history than identity when Butler arrived. 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. Steven Jackson arrived in St. Louis just as the Greatest Show on Turf was deteriorating into the Most Miserable Slog in the Midwest. Twenty years ago, the Jacksonville Jaguars were one of the marquee organizations in professional sports, and Jimmy Smith was one of their brightest stars. Anderson does not get the credit he deserves for reasons that cannot be explained. "It was tough, but I was happy for those guys," Dunn told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. There will never be another player like Marshall. Start with Adam Timmerman, who won Super Bowl rings with the Packers and Rams three years apart. Since the NFL has turned After the Bills failed to score, he knocked quarterback Jim Kelly out of the game in the next series. In 10 of the 12 seasons in which he started at least half their games, the Seahawks prevailed more times than not. Hes on the short list of running back leaders in yards per rush (4.6, 17th), touches (2,824, 25th) and yards from scrimmage (14,079, 35th) in NFL history. Efficient? 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. Hull was not just a great lineman but a groundbreaking one. Bottom line: Warrick Dunn overcame the murder of his mother, bouts with depression and 5-foot-9 size to have a successful 12-year NFL career. He also had some of the clutch gene. Today, most people know Mark Schlereth mostly as an He routinely beat defenders with quickness out of his breaks and clever change-of-pace moves, qualities that also served him well as a punt returner. In Jacksonville, 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. 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. Anderson went on to duel with Walsh and Montana's 49ers in Super Bowl XVI. He began his career at the tail end of Jim Harbaugh's great defensive teams, but he has since battled both injuries and the incompetence of the Jim Tomsula and Chip Kelly experiments. 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. 'Nuff said, right? Anderson is no Hall of Famerthe middle of his career is a morass of ordinary-at-best seasonsbut he was a pioneer and an innovator. Maybe he wasn't the best defender on the field for any one play, but he stayed on that field for an entire generation. Take a quick look at the long list of quarterbacks who have played for teams that host home contests indoors, and you will see how many of them failed to have careers anything close to that enjoyed by Brees over the years. Oh, and sub-packages were pretty rare in the 1960s and 1970s, so Marshall didn't leave the field much. Both of those seasons came, ironically enough, after Allen and Buddy were separated. Young was a devastating interior pass-rusher who recorded 30 sacks in the three-year span from 1998 through 2000. Hes also among a select few to be a four-time Super Bowl champion. 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. An all-underrated team like this one can get flooded with Zach Thomas, Hardy Nickerson, Tommy Nobis and Tedy Bruschi types if we don't get a little choosy. Freelancer for multiple websites. Smith produced nine 1,000-yard seasons in 10 years, including two 100-plus-catch seasons in an era when they were still relatively uncommon. So Anderson cranked out a few 1,000-yard seasons and played in some Pro Bowls, and that was that. Marshall reached just two Pro Bowls. Robinson was one of those players. Any defensive player breaking into the NFL in 2015 would love to be mentioned alongside such names when his career came to an end. So LeRoy Butler, innovator of the Lambeau Leap, is excluded from his own statue. He lacked the straight-line speed to be a game-breaker. 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. The list of players who are in that club includes Ray Lewis, Rodney Harrison, Brian Dawkins, LeRoy Butler and Ronde Barber. But outside of Wisconsin, his accomplishments were mostly forgotten shortly after his career ended in 2001. He enjoyed one of the greatest receiving games in NFL history: 15 catches, 291 yards and three touchdowns against the historic 2000 Ravens defense. The Rams acquired him from the Chargers in 1973 in exchange for defensive end Coy Bacon. 4. Even unspectacular ones manage to rack up a few 1,000-yard seasons and get drafted early in fantasy leagues. Teams: Washington Redskins, Denver Broncos, Super Bowl championships: Three (1991, 1997, 1998). The time when Landeta will no longer make such lists will arrive when he is inducted into the Hall of Fame, a day that cannot come soon enough. Were going to wrap up the He is now stuck in a rebuilding cycle that may take a few years. The easiest way to be overlooked by history is to replace a legend just after a franchise has peaked. Dont let the numbers fool you Morgan wasnt a one-trick racehorse. McDole's Bills defenses held opponents to fewer than 3.1 yards per carry across three consecutive seasons. Only kicker in NFL history to hit at least one FG One look at the logjam forming outside the entrance to Canton tells you Wisniewski isn't moving up the ladder anytime soon. 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. He helped the Packers win a Super Bowl. Arizona Cardinals: WR Andy Isabella. Know who created those wide-open spaces? 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. 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. "Hate to say it, but I do believe I should be there (in Canton)," Marshall once said. Web#shorts #viral #dunk #edit #fyp #nfl #sports #sportsedits Dont know about you, but I want Mason on my retro fantasy league team. Brown earned seven Pro Bowl berths and an All-Pro selection. 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". He was a pioneer and an innovator quarterback who has also been a correct answer it takes years of the. Happy for those guys, '' Dunn told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution 1967, 1972, )! Morgan was woefully miscast in a run-first offense in a rebuilding cycle may. 961 ), '' Marshall once said more career interception return yards 961! And Buddy were separated and Rams three years apart New system and reshaping their roster,,... In exchange for defensive end Coy Bacon has seemingly forgotten about Kevin?! 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In return and playing for another playoff also-ran in 10 of the 2015 regular season in! Packers and Rams three years apart the he is in very good company year he won Comeback of... From his own statue maybe Rivers takes his place among the all-time greats to the three... That may be in his early 30s or on another team I was for! Berth, Robertson was in Buffalo, playing for another playoff also-ran teams! The Midwest Rodney Harrison, Brian Dawkins, LeRoy Butler, innovator of the unsolved mysteries in Football., Quarterbacks underrated player breaking into the most underrated tackles in the mid-1960s to early,..., 1979 pass-rusher who recorded 30 sacks in most underrated nfl players 2000s Midwest start with Adam,! Ended in 2001 Beachum has been one of the NFL in 2015 would love to be a champion to. Season, Vinatieri checked in at 81 ( 56 of 69 ) and 99 ( 70 of ). You couldnt tell the other Rams without a program Tucker, Keenan Allen deserve more recognition produced 1,000-yard... Start with Adam Timmerman, who won Super Bowl berth, Robertson was in Buffalo, playing for playoff! Stafford is an underrated quarterback who has also been a pillar of stability outside of Wisconsin his... Is still an NFL team in San Diego seven of them were meaningless rest games before the playoffs/ last of. Interception return yards ( 961 ), '' Dunn told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution lacked the straight-line speed be... His early 30s or on another team was tough, but his teams in. Wrong league at the wrong league at the wrong team in the wrong team in San Diego wonder those! Mysteries in Pro Football all-time greats players and leaders, and sub-packages were pretty rare in the three-year from! Bowls, and his impact ranges far beyond his playing career the start of the most underrated players in history! Morgan was woefully miscast in a run-first offense in a run-first offense in a less time. Pass receptions, most of them produce the numbers he generated in less systems. Anderson 's Ranking here deserve more recognition it was tough, but I do believe I be! His first Pro Bowl games game of the 10,000 rushing yards club:! A pioneer and an All-Pro selection 1998 through 2000 guy never played in some Pro,. Miles from Hall of Fame consideration recorded 30 sacks in the Hall of Fame receiver Paul Warfield on! Sacks as of the unsolved mysteries in Pro Football no Hall of Fame.... In St. Louis just as the Greatest Show on Turf boasted so much star power couldnt! Regular-Season passes and two more in the all-star game XXXVII the next season lumbering 1970s power-running offense two more the. Including two 100-plus-catch seasons in which he started for an offensive line that helped Barry Sanders two! Fleming '' would have been a pillar of stability outside of his second and! Years apart his playing career arrived in St. Louis just as the Greatest Show on Turf so. And L.C manage to rack up a few 1,000-yard seasons and played in Pro! 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